Pharmacognostic Studies and In Vitro Antioxidant Potential of Traditional Polyherbal Formulation of West Sikkim with Asparagus Spp

Abstract

Introduction:The powder mixture of the two species of Asparagaceae (Asparagus filicinus and Asparagus officinalis) was found to be used traditionally for the treatment of heart palpitation in west Sikkim. Objective: Pharmacognostic characterisation was carried out for the authentication of the powder drug which included powder microscopy, fluorescence analysis and physicochemical characterisation. The presence of any therapeutic potential in HP was also determined by qualitative and quantitative estimation of phytochemicals along with free radical scavenging activity of various successive solvent extracts (based on their polarity). Thin layer chromatography (TLC) of the powdered HP was also done. The standard software SPSS (ver. 15.0) and XLSTAT 2009 (Addinsoft) and Smith's Statistical Package were used for different statistical analysis. Results: Powder microscopy of HP revealed the presence of calcium oxalate crystal, tracheids, stone cells etc. Various fluorescence colours were exhibited by HP on UV after reacting with different chemical reagents. The analysis values were also obtained in a satisfactory way. TLC and qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of some active phytoconstituents. Among all the solvent extracts, acetone, heptane, ethyl acetate and benzene extracts showed higher antioxidant potential. Conclusion: The results support the use of HP as a traditional medicine and further purification should be done for the identification of bioactive phytoconstituents responsible for its antioxidant activity.Key words: Antioxidant, Pharmacognostic evaluation, Phytoconstituents, Successive solvent extraction, Thin layer Chromatography. SUMMARY• HP powder prepared from the roots of Asparagus officinalis and Asparagus filicinus is used to cure heart palpitation in the traditional system at a village in west Sikkim.• Powder was subjected for some pharamacognostic characterisation methods and the result of which might be helpful in authentication of the traditional drug.• Some phytoconstituents such as anthraglycosides, arbutin, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, bitter principles and coumarins were revealed on the sample by separating through thin layer chromatography. Alkaloids and saponins were absent. • Qualitative evaluation of phytochemicals revealed presence of cardiac glycosides and flavonoids in all solvent extracts while amino acid and triterpenoids in few extracts only and showed absence of tannin, resin and alkaloids.• Antioxidants potential varied in different solvent extracts but overall acetone and heptane extracts were better than other extracts.

Effect of solvents on polyphenol recovery and antioxidant activity of isolates of Asparagus Officinalis roots from Chinese and New Zealand cultivars

“…New Zealand purple AR contained a higher TPC than the Chinese purple AR ( P < 0.05), but no differences were found in TPC between the green AR from both countries ( P > 0.05) (Table ). The results of the present study are inconsistent, however, with the findings of Subba & Mandal () who found acetone was the best solvent for extraction of TPC from a mixture of A. officinalis and A. filicinus root extract. Shah et al .…”

“…Generally, the activity of the extracts in terms of solvents had the same trend in the other cultivars. However, the findings in the present study cannot be directly compared with other studies (Shah et al ., ; Fan et al ., ; Subba & Mandal, ), because of the different extraction methods and samples used as well as differences in reporting the value of ABTS. New Zealand purple AR contained similar %ABTSsc to that found in the Chinese yellow AR when extracted with water, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol and n‐butyl alcohol ( P > 0.05).…”

“…Therefore, the rates of phenol oxidation reactions are significantly affected by H‐bond‐accepting (HBA), anion solvation abilities of solvents, and the nature and position of phenol ring substituents. A wide range of conditions have been used in different asparagus varieties and parts that gave mixed outcomes (Feng et al ., ; Shah et al ., ; Subba & Mandal, ). New Zealand purple AR contained similar FRAP to that found in the Chinese yellow AR when extracted with methanol, ethanol, petroleum ether and ethyl acetate ( P > 0.05, Table ).…”

Effect of Seasonal and Regional Variations on Phenolic Compounds of Deverra scoparia (Flowers/Seeds) Methanolic Extract and the Evaluation of Its in Vitro Antioxidant Activity

“…The work of Duh et al . showed the impact of TPC on antioxidant activity of plant extracts, while Subba et al . reported that DPPH inhibition was positively associated with TPC.…”

“…Further, samples located in Laghouat region showed the best IC 50 values, and then, the Ghardaïa region samples and the Djelfa region samples. The work of Duh et al [25] showed the impact of TPC on antioxidant activity of plant extracts, while Subba et al [26] reported that DPPH inhibition was positively associated with TPC. These results seemed to be congruent with this study, in which it is notable from Figure 1 that the antioxidant DPPH-IC 50 values of most of samples were affected by the amounts of TPC which is clear in samples A 13 , A 16 , A 19 , B 9 , their amounts of TPC passed the edge of 1400 mg GAE/100 g dry matter and had quite good IC 50 values ranging between 75.05 and 84.29 μg/mL.…”