PIGE-PIXE ANALYSIS OF CHEWING STICKS OF PHARMACOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE

PIGE and PIXE techniques were employed for the determination of the ma jor, minor and trace elemental concentrations in chewing sticks of pha rmacological importance namely: Butyrospermum paradoxum, Garcinia kola , Distemonanthus benthamianus, Bridelia ferruginea, Anogeissus leiocar pus, Terminalia glaucescens and Fagara rubescens, respectively. The co ncentration of fluorine which is very important for human dental ename l was specially determined using the (19)Rp, p'gamma)F-19 reaction. Fo r decades these chewing sticks when used alone without toothpastes hav e proven to be very efficient, effective and reliable in cleaning the teeth of many people particularly in Nigeria and some other countries in Africa. The teeth of users are usually very strong, clean, fresh an d devoid of germs and caries. Even with the advent of modem toothpaste s with special additions of fluorine, the use of these popular and eff icient chewing sticks is still unabated. Many people including the eli te use them solely, a few others combine their use with modem toothpas tes and brush. Proton beams produced by the 7 MV CN and 2.5 MV AN 2000 Van de Graaff accelerators at INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro ( LNL), Padova, Italy were used for the PIGE and PIXE analysis, respecti vely. Results of this novel study are presented and discussed.