The role of elements particularly trace elements in health and disease is well established. In this paper the authors investigate the presence of various elements in very impor1ant herb Aloe barbadensis (Aloe vera), it is commonly used in different ailments especially of elementary tract and skin problems. Four acid digestion methods for the determination of total elements in Aloe barbadensis were made. The samples of the plant were collected from surrounding of Hyderabad city, Sindh University, Jamshoro and vouchers specimens were prepared following the standard herbarium techniques. In total fifteen essential, trace and toxic elements such as Zo, Cr, K, Mg, Ca, Na, Cu, Fe, Pb, AI, Ba, Mil, Co, Ni, and Cd were determined in the plant, and in its decoction, using Atomic absorption spectrophotometer Hitachi Model 180-50. The procedure found to be more efficient than other methods of decomposes the biological material in nitric acid and 30% hydrogen peroxide. The validation of the methods was checked with the NBS-I570 (Spanish) as standard reference material. The yielded element values were in close agreement with certified values. The percentage recovery of different elements was found to be better i.e. (98-99%) as compared to other method of digestion. It was noted that level of essential elements was high as compared to the level of toxic elements
Q SHAIKH ,T G KAZI ,M A JAKHRANI ,S R SAHITO ,M A MEMON ,G Q SHAR ,G H KAZI ,