BackgroundTrikatu, Sitopaladi, Hingavastaka, Avipattikara, Sringyadi and Talisadya are very popular Ayurvedic (churna) medicines practiced in India; however, unfortunately, they possess several quality control issues.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to find out a simple, accurate and sensitive HPTLC method for the detection and quantification of marker molecule, piperine (alkaloid) on these Ayurvedic formulations for standardization.Materials and methodsMethanolic extraction (reflux) was performed from the above six churnas as well as three single ingredients Piper longum (pipul), Piper nigrum (marich) and Piper chaba (chai). HPTLC was done using piperine as a standard. The mobile phase was a mixture of toluene-ethyl acetate (7:3, v/v) and detection at 342λ.ResultsThe Rf was detected at 0.39. Piperine was quantified in all samples. P. nigrum showed higher piperine than P. longum and P. chaba. The maximum piperine was noted in Hingavastaka churna and followed by Sringyadi churna, Sitopaladi churna, Talisadya churna, Trikatu churna and Avipattikara churna.ConclusionThis method can be successfully employed for standardization and quantitative analysis of piperine in Ayurvedic formulations (churnas) and also be helpful to clinicians and pharmacists to draw significant role of piperine present in all these samples.

Classical guggulu formulations have been used as mainstay therapeutics in chronic inflammatory diseases in Ayurvedic system of medicine since centuries. The present study included six guggulu formulations such as Kaishora guggulu, Kanchanara guggulu, Yogaraj guggulu, Punrnava guggulu, Amritadi guggulu and Trayodasanga guggulu.Phenolic compounds play a vital role as evident from phenolic and flavonoid content in guggulu drugs as well as antioxidant activity assayed by DPPH radical scavenging activity and FRAP antioxidant power. Yograj guggulu was found to have strong reducing ability (1156.76 µM Fe(II)/mg) among six drugs chosen in this investigation and Amritadi guggulu has revealed powerful scavenger of DPPH radicals (IC50:1.05 mg/ml). Phenolic acid composition for each guggulu drug was analyzed and twelve phenolic acid compounds were identified and estimated by HPLC. Gallic acid (8.29-49.28 mg/g) was found in high concentration and ellagic acid (0.69-6.02 mg/g) was found to the next in all formulations. Other phenolic acid components estimated were protocatechuic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, gentisic acid, chlorogenic acid, vanillic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, sinapic acid in all guggulu formulations. A synergistic activity towards therapeutic efficacy was proposed on the basis of phenolic acid composition in each guggulu formulation.

The present study compares Total Phenolic Content, Total Flavonoid Content,  -carotene content and in-vitro antioxidant activity of hydro-methanolic (20:80) extract of three commonly available vegetable wastes namely tomato pomace (TP), skin of green pea pod(GP) and beet root peel (BP) from hotels and food processing center nearby Kolkata, India. BP showed significantly (P<0.05) higher level of total phenolic contents followed by GP and TP. On the other hand, GP showed highest (P<0.05) flavonoid content followed by TP and BP. This study revealed that  -carotene content in TP was significantly (P<0.05) more than in GP, although no -carotene was detected in BP. DPPH assay for in-vitro antioxidant activity indicated highest antioxidant activity in BP followed by GP and TP. It is concluded that beet root peels might be used for producing functional food/feed additives due to its high anti-oxidant capacity and warrants further study in this regard.