HPTLC Analysis and Stability Study of Phyllanthin Biomarker in Tablet Formulation

Abstract

Phyllanthus amarus Schum and Thonn from the family Euphorbiaceae has been widely used in India and other tropical countries for the treatment of various ailments as hepatoprotective, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, etc. Various activities in genus Phyllanthus are reported due to different lignans present. Preservation of herbal extract may cause degradation of the active constituents and thus reducing its pharmacological efficacies. So there is need for an appropriate analytical procedure to quantify the content of actives in the extract when stored before use. In the present work stability profile of herbal tablet containing Phyllanthus amarus extract was studied and quantitative estimation of phyllanthin biomarker was done with HPTLC. Tablet formulation of methanolic extract was formulated, evaluated and stored at different stabilty conditions. HPTLC method was developed and validated to quantify biomarker in fresh extract and in formulation using Hexane: Acetone: Ethyl acetate (7:2:1v/v/v). The results of HPTLC study indicated that tablet samples kept under long term condition consist of more phyllanthin as compared to the tablets samples stored under accelerated and room temperature after 6 months study. Therefore, Phyllanthus amarus extract should be stored at definite temperature and humidity conditions to get maximum concentration of biomarker phyllanthin.