title: Occurrence of preformed volatile nitrosamines in preparations of some Nigerian medicinal plants: a preliminary report.
abstract: Preparations of some tropical plants of medicinal importance collected from the savannah vegetational belt of Nigeria were analysed for preformed volatile N-nitrosamines. N-nitrosamines were analyzed by chemiluminescence detection on a thermal energy analyzer (TEA) following gas chromatographic (GC) separation. Only N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in the range of 1.2-3.4 microg/kg was detected in four out of the 29 sample preparations. These preliminary data suggest that medicinal plant preparations may be due in part to microbial contamination, contributing to N-nitroso compound burden in many developing countries where ethnomedicine in still widely practised.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. atawodi_se@yahoo.com
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Atawodi
mesh_terms: D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D004055:Differential Thermal Analysis; D004128:Dimethylnitrosamine / Q000032:analysis; D004340:Drug Contamination; D016488:Medicine, African Traditional; D009549:Nigeria; D009566:Nitrates / Q000032:analysis; D009573:Nitrites / Q000032:analysis; D009602:Nitrosamines / Q000032:analysis*; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000032:analysis*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D012015:Reference Standards
chemical_list: D009566:Nitrates; D009573:Nitrites; D009602:Nitrosamines; D028321:Plant Preparations; D004128:Dimethylnitrosamine