Search

Costus Roots (CRs) (Saussurea lappa C.B. Clark- Asteraceae family) is a medicinal herb, very frequently utilized in developing countries for treating worm (nematode) infections, asthma, cholera, digestive problems and in cosmetics products. Due to its widespread consumption in developing countries to determine the health-related essential nutrients and toxic elements is of great significance. This study is highly noteworthy for prominence of therapeutic benefits of the CR roots and public awareness about their harmful effects even for producing herbal drugs derived from its roots. In this study, a very efficient, precise and rapid laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) method was developed to measure the content of the dried and pelletized CRs powder samples. To the best of our knowledge, this is first time that Costus roots have been studied using calibration-free LIBS (CF-LIBS) technique. Initially, the LIBS spectrometer parameters were optimized at 608.3 nm gated-time delay, 35 mJ incident laser pulse energy, and 29 mm laser-to-sample distance (LTSD)) for precise element detection before its application to the CRs analysis. The primary focus of this study is the identification and quantification of various nutrients, such as Ca, K, Mg, Si, S, P, Fe, and Na, as well as relatively toxic elements, such as Al, Ba, Mn, Zn, Sr, B, Cu, Rb, Cr, Ni, Pb, V, and Mo, in addition to Li, Ti in this native CRs herbal medicine. The concentrations of these detected elements (Ca, K, Mg, Si, S, P, Al, Fe, Na, Ti, Ba, Mn, Zn, Sr, B, Cu, Rb, Cr, Ni, Pb, V, Mo, and Li) were successfully determined as 14424, 9511, 2031, 1559, 1450, 1465, 678, 458, 59, 48, 47, 37, 37, 27, 19, 19.6, 15, 2.6, 1.5, 1.5, 1.2, 1.0 and 0.9 mg.kg−1 respectively which was in a excellent agreement with the concentrations measured using the standard ICP-OES technique.

In this study, Co0.5Ni0.5Nd0.02Fe1.98O4 nanoparticles CoNiNd (NPs) were synthesized by combustion method linked with biosynthesis with and without different plant extracts such as Lavender, Ginger, Flax-Seed, Lemon Juice, Tragacanth Gum, and Dates Fruit. Co0.5Ni0.5Nd0.02Fe1.98O4 nanoparticles (NPs) with plant extracts (CoNiNd plant extracts) were analyzed by XRD, TEM and SEM methods. The structure of Co-Ni spinel ferrite was confirmed by XRD and the shape and the size of nanoparticles were examined via SEM and TEM and the size was found between 17 and 25 nm. The anti-cancer activity of NPs on cancer cells such as human colorectal carcinoma (HCT-116) and human cervical cells (Hela) were investigated. The cytotoxicity of was examined by MTT assay and followed by measuring the inhibitory concentration (IC50) values after 48 h treatments. The cell viability assay confirmed a decrease in the cancer cell viability post NPs treatments and showed dose-dependent inhibitory action. The treatments of CoNiNd (NPs) and CoNiNd plant extracts via Lavender plant extract showed most profound inhibitory action on both cancer cells than extracts other plant extracts. The IC50 values were for HCT-116 cells were found to be in range of 15.75–42.55 µg/mL and 13.44 to 35.65 µg/mL for HeLa cells. In contrast, the treatment of CoNiNd (NPs) and CoNiNd plant extracts showed inhibitory action but the percentage of inhibition was higher in HEK-293 cells. Our results showed that CoNiNd (NPs) and CoNiNd plant extracts possess potential application in the colon and cervical cancer treatments and we recommend molecular analysis of NPs mediated cancer cell death for future applications.

A responsive laser induced breakdown spectroscopic system was developed and improved for utilizing it as a sensor for the classification of quartz samples on the basis of trace elements present in the acquired samples. Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in conjunction with discriminant function analysis (DFA) was applied for the classification of five different types of quartz samples. The quartz plasmas were produced at ambient pressure using Nd:YAG laser at fundamental harmonic mode (1064 nm). We optimized the detection system by finding the suitable delay time of the laser excitation. This is the first study, where the developed technique (LIBS+DFA) was successfully employed to probe and confirm the elemental composition of quartz samples.

The macronutrients and heavy metals content of different parts of a locally found herb named Fagonia cretica, an important medicinal herb, were investigated. Al, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Sr and Zn were measured in roots, shoots, leaves, spines and flowers/fruits of the plant. The analysis was carried out by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The results revealed that the Fagonia cretica accumulate the elemental contents at different parts. The accuracy of the method was checked by analysing a certified reference material and the results were in agreement with the enumerate value. The presence of a certain set of elements at percentage level like Ca, K and Mg is useful for strengthening of bones and body. Other elements important from health perspective including Al, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Na, Sr and Zn are found at ppm levels in all parts of the plant. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v28i2.2