Histo-Chromatographic Finger Printing Profiles of the Root of Plumbago zeylanica Linn and Quantification of Marker Compound, Plumbagin

Abstract

Background: Plumbagin, a plant-derived naphthoquinone is known to be biosynthesized by polyacetate-malonate pathway. The ayurvedic drug Chitraka is obtained from the medicinal plant Plumbago zeylanica Linn, which belongs to the family Plumbaginaceae. The Chitraka is found used in the traditional forms of medicine for the treatment of various illnesses, since ancient times. Aim: The present study concerns the microscopic, powder and quantitative microscopic characteristics of the root of Plumbago zeylanica Linn. Materials and Methods: Delimiting the morpho-histological profile of the root using digital, stereo and polarized microscopic techniques and to develop the chromatogram of the extract of the root of Plumbago zeylanica Linn using High performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method. Results:The presence of cortical deposition of plumbagin pigment as yellowish tints in the surface view of the sections of root, arrangement of starch grains as bunches of grapes in cortical tissues and ray parenchyma, crystal idioblasts containing calcium oxalate embedded in the intervening walls of the cortical cells, distinct band or patch of sclreids at the pericyclic region of the phloem, wood with non-storied cambium, distinct growth ring boundaries, paratracheal axial parenchyma, chains of vessels in radial multiplies of three to four, uniseriate to biseriate medullary rays with homogeneous cells, crowding of vessels at the central portion of secondary xylem, wood plugged with tylosis and low mesomorphy ratio for wood were the anatomical features characteristics of the taxon. The HPTLC profile of the methanol extract of root developed using the mobile phase, n-hexane:ethyl acetate (8:2 v/v) had revealed four phytoconstituents. The R f value for plumbagin (C 11 H 8 O 3 ) was found to be 0.86. Densitometric scanning had shown λ max of plumbagin at 270 nm. Spectral matching by overlaying the spectra of both standards and extract of root sample were confirmed the specificity of λ max at 270 nm for the marker compound. The calibration curve was found to be linear in the concentration range of 2.00 to 10.00 μg/ band with the polynomial calibration equation Y=178.8+91.61*X+-4.825*X 2 and estimated that 5 μL of methanol extract of roots contained 1.326 μg of plumbagin. Thus the content of marker constituent (plumbagin) present in shade-dried roots of Plumbago zeylanica Linn (a Kerala habitant) was estimated as 0.179%. Conclusion:The present study suggests that the delineated characteristics of the roots of Plumbago zeylanica Linn could tag as the identifying parameters to substantiate and authenticate the raw drugs from the spurious/adulterants materials and developed HPTLC method could be effectively used for the regulatory perspectives and quality assessment of plumbagin in the polyherbal formulation/finished products of traditional medicine.

Botanical Pharmacognosy of Bacopa monnieri (Linn.) Pennell

“…The descriptive terms of the anatomical features were used here as per Metcalfe and Chalk, 26 Conquist 27 and Sudhakaran. [28][29]…”

Chromatographic Finger Printing and Quantification of Gallic Acid in Amla (Emblica Officinalis Gaertn.), Palasa (Butea Monosperma Taub.) and Amalaki Rasayana

“…The calibration graph was developed by plotting concentration against the peak area and the content of GA in EO, BM and EO samples were estimated by polynomial regression. The sensitivity of the HPTLC method was determined in signal-to-noise ratio of LOD (3Sa/b) and LOQ (Sa/b) as described by Srivastava et al 34 and Sudahakaran 35 . The experiment was done in triplicate, and statistical significance of the results was evaluated using t-test.…”

Micromorphology of Salt glands and content of marker compound Plumbagin in the leaves of Plumbago zeylanica Linn

“…In Indian system of medicine, P. zeylanica Linn is espoused as source for the drug Chitraka, which is one of the major ingredients in many Ayurvedic formulation. 10 Although some previous studies have reported that the salt glands in the Plumbaginaceae (Plumbago europaea; P.capensis; Limonium latifolium; Statice gmelin) exo-recreto discharge salt from the aerial parts of shoot, particularly from the leaf however, a clear evidence for this phenomenon has not previously been reported in P. zeylanica Linn.…”

“…Since the material occurrence of salt glands not cosmopolitan amongst plants and are limited to a few taxa of diverse angiosperm families, together with the sparse distribution of salt glands in epidermal tissues (only a few epidermal cells of leaf possessing the salt glands) even in those accessible taxa, the reports on the investigation of salt glands are lacking in literature, barring a few cases. 6,[9][10][11][12][13] In addition to this, the foliar architecture and histological components of the leaf are being considered as satisfactory parameters for species identification in botanical pharmacognosy, the present investigation has been undertaken with the objectives of delineating the leaf anatomical characteristics of Plumbago zeylanica using light and polarized microscopy and quantification of bio-marker compound Plumbagin in the leaves by HPTLC methods.…”