Release of soluble arsenic from Realgar in simulated gastric juice

Realgar is a mineral used as traditional Chinese medicine. It is a sulphide of the Realgar Group, containing mainly arsenic disulphide (As2S2). To eva luate the safety intake of this mineral medicine, the soluble arsenic was e xtracted from pulverised Reaglar samples under conditions that simulated th e situation in which the materials stayed in the alimentary tract after swa llowing. The content of soluble arsenic in the extracts was determined by i nductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The Realgar samples w ere also digested by concentrated nitric acid and its total arsenic content was determined by Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES).