Avestia Publishing International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Nanotechnology (IJTAN) Volume 8, Year 2020 Journal ISSN: 1929-1248 DOI: 10.11159/ijtan.2020.001 Date Received: 2020-01-20 Date Accepted: 2020-02-27 Date Published: 2020-06-16 1 Study of Incinerated Silver Used in Indian Traditional Medicine Systems Subhathirai Subramaniyan Parimalam 1* , Ahmad Sohrabi 1 , Simona Badilescu 1 , Rama Bhat 2 , Alisa Piekny 3 , Muthukumaran Packirisamy 1 1 Concordia University, Optical-Bio Microsystems Laboratory, Micro-Nano-Bio Integration Center, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Montreal, H3G 1M8, Canada. 2 Concordia University, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Montreal, H3G 1M8, Canada. 3 Concordia University, Department of Biology, Montreal, H4B 1R6, Canada. subhathi@encs.concordia.ca, ahmad.sohrabi@gmail.com, simonabadilescu0@gmail.com, rama.bhat@concordia.ca, alisa.piekny@concordia.ca, mpackir@encs.concordia.ca Abstract - Incinerated metal particles such as gold, silver, copper and iron are administered as internal medicines in the Indian systems of medicine, Siddha and Ayurveda, respectively. We studied the structure, composition and properties of the Incinerated Silver (IAg) particles (Veli parpam/Rajata bhasma) as well as their spectra and localisation in cancer cells (HeLa, A549 and HCT 116). The average crystallite size, particle size, and hydrodynamic diameter were found to be 54.6 nm, 300 nm to 1.7 m, and 530 nm-1.1 m, respectively. The particles have a negative surface charge with a zeta potential of -22.87±1.34 mV. The IAg particles are made up of Ag, Ca, Fe, Hg and other trace elements. Further, their subcellular properties and locations were analysed in cancer cell lines. The preliminary results obtained from the SEM and hyperspectral imaging show the uptake of the IAg particles and aggregates. Keywords: Silver ash, Indian medicine, Siddha medicine, hyperspectral imaging. © Copyright 2020 Authors - This is an Open Access article published under the Creative Commons Attribution License terms (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). Unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited. 1. Introduction The Indian systems of medicines, namely Siddha and Ayurveda, use incinerated metal products of gold, silver, copper and iron as oral medicines. The metal- based medicine is the last expedient when herbal medicine-based treatments become ineffective. The incinerated metals have been used for centuries to treat chronic diseases, including cancer and immunological disorders. During oral administration, the incinerated metal is given in a small dosage (~100 mg over a period of 3-7 days) along with herbal extracts or/and dairy products, depending on the disease condition. More than one disease can be treated using the same metal by simply varying the adjuvants (bio-enhancers) [1]. Metal medicines have a longer shelf-life in comparison to organic plant-based medicines. In addition, they are tasteless, quick to act and can be used in low dosage. In the era of nanomedicines, it was hypothesised that the rapid therapeutic effect of the incinerated metal medicines is due, in part, to their size and negative surface charge. Some of the particles have a large surface area to volume ratio and, therefore, greater capacity for delivery. Further, the negative charge of the metal nanoparticles, combined with their size may account for their rapid cellular uptake. Although there were no tools to measure nano- micro scale particles during the medieval period, numerous simple qualitative methods, specific to Siddha and Ayurveda, were employed to validate the metal products [2]. The IAg preparation is a top down process, the bulk material is broken down into fine particles through repeated levigations in plant extracts, followed by numerous incineration cycles as described in the ancient texts. In this work we studied the IAg particles [3], [4], also called as Veli parpam [5], [6] and Rajata bhasma, [1], [7], in Siddha and Ayurveda, respectively. The IAg particles have been, and still are, used to treat lung diseases (tuberculosis) neurological conditions