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ORIGINAL ARTICLE Determination of major and trace elements in the indigenous medicinal plant Withania somnifera and their possible correlation with therapeutic activity Khaula Shirin * , Saima Imad, Sheraz Shafiq, Kaneez Fatima Pakistan Counci l of Scient ific and Industrial Resea rch, Laboratory Complex, Karachi, Pakist an Received 21 March 2009; accepted 3 October 2009 Available online 16 December 2009 KEYWORDS Elements; Withania somnifera ; Atomic absorption spectrophotometer; Therapeutic activity Abstract Withania somnifera (family Solanaceae) has been studied to determine major and trace elements and their possible correlation with therapeutic value of the plant. Nine trace elements were determined in Withania somnifera. This important medicinal plant was found to be rich in Fe, Cu, Ni, Mn, and Zn. These trace elements are well known for curing diseases. The plant contains nutri- ent elements, which are best sources for fodder. ª 2009 King Saud University. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction There are many elements present in the living organisms and scores of metabolic reactions are attributed to them ( Suzanne, 2007). Nature has provided man herbal medicines under differ- ent conditions and climate. Perhaps all basic principles per- taining to human therapy have been derived from medicinal plants and herbs (Lai, 2004). It is well established that plants pick up elements from the soil, e.g., banana takes up potassium and turmeric accumulates large quantity of lead (Weerasinghe and Pre mala l, 2002). The ele mental composi tion of many plants is known. It will be very interesting to determine their trace elements’ status. It is surprising to note that many cura- tive effects of medicinal plants used in the traditional system of medicines are due to the presence of very minute quantities of trace elements. Important constituents of the body such as en- zymes are intima tely associated with the chemic al eleme nts. Eleme nts, particularly essential trace elements play both cura- tive and preventive roles in fighting diseases such as Fe in ane- mia and iodine in goiter . At present about 14 such element s are considered to influence the state of health and diseases of ani- mals, plants and human beings. These elements are Fe, Cu, Co, Ni, Zn, Mg, Mn, Mo, Cr, V, Li, Se, F and I (Seiler et al., 1994). The deficiency of trace elements in human subjects can occur under most practical dietary conditions. Many diseases which have been considered incurable may now possibly be treated by balancing the disequilibrium of these elements in the human body. Liver diseases such as viral and alcoholic hepatitis do not easily respond to treatment with drugs of modern allo- pathic system of medicines ( Zhang, 1996). Traditional herbal system has some thing to offer in this field. Withania somnifera * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (K. Shirin). 1319-6103 ª 2009 King Saud Uni vers ity. All rights res erve d. Peer - review under responsibility of King Saud University. doi:10.1016/j.jscs.2009.12.015 Production and hosting by Elsevier Journal of Saudi Chemical Society (2010) 14 , 97 – 100 King Saud University Journal of Saudi Chemical Society www.ksu.edu.sa www.sciencedirect.com

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