Contents of mineral elements in two traditional Tibetan medicines Fritillaria ussuriensis and Gastrodia elata

Abstract

The contents of mineral elements in wild traditional Tibetan medicines Fritillaria ussuriensis and Gastrodia elata from Tibet were determined by ICP-MS to study their efficacy mechanism and quality. The results showed that wild Gastrodia elata contained more Ca, Fe and Mn than F. ussuriensis, and less Zn, which proved that different traditional Tibetan medicines had different abilities to absorb mineral elements, which should be relative to their efficacy. Compared with F. ussuriensis, Gastrodia elata contained more Pb, Cr and Se, and less Cd and As. Referred to relative standards, toxic elements’ content in Gastrodia elata is not excessive, but Cd in F. ussuriensis was much higher than that of standard.

Keywords

• Traditional Tibetan medicines
• Fritillaria ussuriensis
• Gastrodia elata
• ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry)
• Mineral elements