Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06815-z Assessment of the contents of essential and potentially toxic elements in Pistacia terebinthus L. and Pistacia lentiscus L. by INAA technique Nadjia Hamlat 1  · Adel Benarfa 2  · Brahim Beladel 3  · Samir Begaa 4  · Mohammed Messaoudi 4  · Aicha Hassani 1 Received: 14 July 2019 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2019 Abstract Pistacia terebinthus L. and Pistacia lentiscus L. leaves are widely used in Algerian folk medicine. For the frst time, P. ter- ebinthus and P. lentiscus leaves, were subjected to determine their essential and toxic elements using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). P. terebinthus and P. lentiscus leaves were collected from two diferent locations in Algeria and exposed to INAA analysis. The results show that the mass fractions of the sixteen trace elements studied are within the tolerance limits imposed by the World Health Organization. Hence these results could therefore be used to provide scientifc basis for an optimum usage and enriches the database of medicinal herbs. Keywords Medicinal plants · Pistacia terebinthus L. · Pistacia lentiscus L. · INAA method · Toxic elements · Human health Introduction In Algeria, alternative medicine, is still largely demanded by patients which are not satisfed with the treatments they receive and prefer herbal remedies which seem to be more likely natural, non-harmful side-efects and inexpensive. Pistacia, a genus of fowering forae belonging to Anac- ardiaceae family, grows in several regions in Algeria and known commonly as “Darw” or ‘’ Butom’’ [1, 2]. Pistacia contains about twenty species, among them fve are popular including P. vera, P. atlantica, P. terebinthus, P. khinjuk, and P. lentiscus [3]. Diferent parts of P. terebinthus and P. lentiscus (aerial and underground parts) have been inves- tigated for their various therapeutic efects. In addition to their pharmacological activities, some parts of P. terebinthus and P. lentiscus were used in food industry, for example, P. terebinthus fruit could be used as snack food or in prepar- ing cofee-like drink [4]. While, the anthocyanin composi- tion of P. lentiscus fruit could be used as food colorants [5]. Several techniques are valuable to determine chemical (major and trace) elements like energy dispersive X-ray fuo- rescence (EDXRF), atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) [6, 7], However, Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) technique is considered as the most accurate and precise technique compared with the mentioned ones above. Because of its precision, this analytical technique is often used to measure ultra-trace elements in biological samples [8, 9]. According to literature, most of the reported studies on Pistacia genus were focusing only on their secondary metab- olites [10], including total phenolic compounds (TPC) [11], and essintial oils (EOs) [12]. Whereas, no studieds tried to investigate the toxicity of the genus Pistacia. Hence, this paper aimed, for the frest time, to use a sensitive nuclear analytical technique known as Instrumental Neutron Activa- tion Analysis (INAA), to investigat and evaluate the essential and toxic elements contents presnted in both P. terebinthus and P. lentiscus leaves, where the trace of elements in medic- inal plants play an important role in treatment of diseases [13], in addition, we would like to know the contribution and the impact of these two varieties from these specifc regions * Mohammed Messaoudi messaoudi2006@yahoo.fr 1 Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), P.O. Box 92, Vieux-Kouba, 16308 Alger, Algeria 2 Laboratory of Fundamental Sciences, University Amar Télidji of Laghouat, P.O. Box. 37G, Road of Ghardaïa, 03000 Laghouat, Algeria 3 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technics, University of Djelfa, Cité Aîn Chih, P.O. Box 3117, 17000 Djelfa, Algeria 4 Nuclear Research Centre of Birine, P.O. Box 180, Ain Oussera, 17200 Djelfa, Algeria