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Determination of Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn in the Leaves and Tea of Arrabidaea chica (Humb. & Bompl.) Verl.

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Abstract

Arrabidaea chica (Humb. & Bompl.) Verl. is an herb popularly used in the treatment of anemia in the Brazilian Amazon region, and little is known about its mineral content. Therefore, the elemental contents of Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn were determined in the dried leaves and tea obtained by decoction and infusion of the three varieties of the medicinal plant using flame atomic absorption spectrometry after acid wet digestion of the samples. In general, the levels of the minerals are in good agreement with other studies involving medicinal plants, and the variety AC2 had the highest concentrations of all elements both in dried leaves and tea. Iron was found to be the most abundant in dried leaves (38.4–115.5 µg g−1), whereas manganese had the highest extraction efficiencies both in decoction (56.1–62.7%) and infusion (45.6–63.6%). Additionally, the decoction was more efficient in the extraction of almost all elements. The consumption of the decoction of variety AC2 may contribute to a small proportion to the daily requirements of Mn.

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Acknowledgements

Igor R. S. Magalhães was supported by a fellowship from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). The authors are also grateful to Prof. Cynthia Tereza Corrêa da Silva (Universidade Federal do Amazonas), Dr. José Jackson Xavier, and Maria da Conceição Campelo (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária) for their technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Rua Alexandre Amorim 330, 69010-300, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

    Igor Rafael dos Santos Magalhães, Alcinete de Oliveira Soares, Paulo Roberto Castro da Costa & Maria Rosa Lozano Borrás

  2. Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Av. Gal. Rodrigo Octávio Jordão Ramos S/N, 69077-000, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

    Lídia Medina Araújo

  3. Escola Superior de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade do Estado do Amazonas, Av. Carvalho Leal 1777, 69065-001, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

    Ivete de Araújo Roland

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  1. Igor Rafael dos Santos Magalhães
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  2. Alcinete de Oliveira Soares
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  3. Lídia Medina Araújo
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  4. Paulo Roberto Castro da Costa
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  5. Ivete de Araújo Roland
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  6. Maria Rosa Lozano Borrás
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Correspondence to Igor Rafael dos Santos Magalhães.

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dos Santos Magalhães, I.R., de Oliveira Soares, A., Araújo, L.M. et al. Determination of Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn in the Leaves and Tea of Arrabidaea chica (Humb. & Bompl.) Verl.. Biol Trace Elem Res 132, 239–246 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-009-8381-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-009-8381-2

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