• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.365-372
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• 2002

The mineral medicines mean a sort of mineral or rock for medical treatment and natural material using their chemical components and physical properties. In this study, it was apprehended the mineralogical characteristics of As-bearing group mineral medicines. The extraction test is an vitro test system for predicting the bioavailability of the major and minor elements from mineral medicines and incorporates gastrointestinal tract parameters representative of a human(including stomach and small intestinal pH, stomach mixing time and velocity). The results of the extraction test are used for reaction path modeling in human body. Reaction path modeling in human body can predict digestion with gastric juice as well as bioavailability, speciation. Also, it can predict accumulation of arsenic as pH condition. As the results of the extraction test for digestion, the amounts of Fe extraction was the highest, followed by As, Ca, Ni. In addition, as the results of the reaction path modeling between arsenic compounds and gastric juice using thermodynamic data, when absorbed, major species are followed by H₃As₃S/sub 6/(aq), As₃S/sub 6/ (aq), AsO/sup +/, H₂As₃S/sup 6-/, H₂AsO/sup 3-/, HAs₃S6/sup 2-/, HAsO/sub 3//sup 2-/ and AsO/sub 3//sup 3-/. Specifically the concentration of H₃As₃S/sub 6/(aq) is the highest. As pH increases, the concentration of H₂AsO/sup 3-/, HAsO/sub 3//sup 2-/, HAsO/sub 3//sup 3-/, HAs₃S/sub 6//sup 2-/, H₂As₃S/sup 6-/, and H₃As₃S/sub 6/ increases, whereas the concentration of H₃As₃S/sub 6/ and AsO/sup +/ decreases. On the results of this study, it is able to find out effective and toxic components of poisonous arsenic group of mineral medicines and expected to be widely used for the development of new medicines.