Antioxidant Activity of Madhuraprabhava Drugs Delineated in Madhuraskandha of Charaka's Materia Medica

Abstract

Acharya Charaka had mentioned Madhuraskandha in the context of Asthapana Basti dravya. There are total 85 drugs mentioned in the Madhuraskandha. The drugs included in Madhuraskandha usually possess Madhurarasa or Madhuravipaka and Madhuraprabhava. Madhuraprabhava is the phenomenon in which the drug shows the action attributed to Madhurarasa or Madhuravipaka though it does not contain either of them. In Madhuraskandha, there are in total 25 drugs which exercise their action through Madhuraprabhava. In Ayurvedic pharmacology, Prabhava is referred as inexplicable principle. But, basing upon the active constituents of the medicinal plants their respective activities can be explained. The active constituents of plants have been recently isolated. They have been divided into16 main groups viz. alkaloids, anthocyanin, anthraquinones, glycosides, minerals etc. The active constituents in plants are the chemicals that have a medicinal effect on the body. Rasayana dravyas mainly possess Madhurarasa. The Rasayana activity (antioxidant activity one of the indices of Rasayana Karma) is well explained in the light of presence of phenol compounds, triterpenoids, flavonoids, gallic acids etc. In the present study, the anti-oxidant activity of the Madhuraskandha dravyas who act through their Madhuraprabhava can be explained by the presence of terpenoid, flavonoids and total phenol content etc. A review of such reported researches have been made to explain the activities of drugs having Madhuraprabhava.