Trace elements in commonly used medicinal plants from Varna region, Bulgaria
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ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY IN ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND CHEMISTRY STUDIES
Trace elements in commonly used medicinal plants from Varna region, Bulgaria Stanislava K. Georgieva 1
&
Angelika Georgieva 1 & Zlatina Peteva 1 & Dilyana Dimova 1
Received: 8 March 2020 / Accepted: 10 August 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract In this study, we assessed the concentrations of some trace and toxic elements (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Fe, and Mn) in traditionally used wild medicinal plants: chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla), white yarrow (Achillea millefolium), linden (Tilia sp.), and elder (Sambucus nigra L.) collected from urban and rural region near Varna, Bulgaria. Concentrations of examined elements were determined by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) after sample mineralization. The samples were digested with concentrated nitric acid in a microwave system. Mean element levels in medicinal herbs were established in decreasing order as follows: Fe > Mn > Zn ≈ Cu > Pb > Ni > Cr > Cd. The content of toxic elements in medicinal herbs was found significantly higher in areas with intensive traffic compared with a suburban area. Instead discrimination between metal content in rural and urban samples was confirmed by PCA. Concentrations of toxic elements Cd and Pb in all plant species from the rural region were found in the range from not detected to 0.08 and 0.796 ng/kg, respectively and were below the permissible limit of the WHO. Keywords Toxic elements . Medicinal plants . ICP-OES . Bulgaria
Introduction The use of medicinal plants (as drugs and dietary supplements) in the treatment of various diseases has increased in recent years around the world. Human activities, such as industry, agriculture, and intensive car traffic, promote toxic metals release into the environment. When using herbs for medical treatment of various diseases, it should be known that apart from their pharmacological effect, they can have toxic effect due to the presence of some metals such as Pb, Cd, Zn, Ni, As, Hg, and other impurities. For these reasons, it is important to control the level of contaminants in the raw materials in order to assess their safety (Baranowska et al. 2002; Nikolova et al. 2018). Trace elements (such as zinc, iron, copper, chromium) are essential nutrients but some have toxic properties at high Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues * Stanislava K. Georgieva [email protected] 1
Department of Chemistry, Medical University-Varna, Marin Drinov 55, 9002 Varna, Bulgaria
concentrations. In addition, certain chemical elements (e.g. lead and cadmium) are toxic and in low concentrations can accumulate in the human body and cause adverse effects (Tokalıoğlu 2012). Recent studies found that some herbs (Rosemary officinalis, Matricaria chamomilla) could have a decent capacity to accumulate Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn in both leaves and stem. Therefore, they will be a suitable tool in determining the traffic-related pollution in urban areas (Bozdogan Sert e
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