Effect of oral ingestion of different forms of silver on tissue content of some essential elements in chicks.

Silver is ingested in India in the form of varak, Ayurvedic bhasm and water contained in silver utensils, but nobody knows their effects. We have examined the effect of interaction of silver ingested in the form of varak (leaf), bhasm (ash) and water (colloidal solution) on some essential elements (Na, K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe and Zn) in blood, liver, spleen and kidneys of chicks. The results showed significant rise of silver in all the tissues and significant fall in copper in the blood. The greatest rise was obtained in blood silver by silver sol while it had the lowest amount of silver. Iron significantly increased in tissues but somewhat decreased in blood. Zinc content increased in all the tissues by leaf and ash but decreased by sol. No consistent pattern was seen in case of other elements.