Abstract
Quality control of botanicals, including phytomedicines and dietary supplements, is a basic requirement to ensure their safety and effectiveness. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of marker components is a potentially cost-efficient aspect of quality control as any change in quality of the marker compound may also represent the quality of overall product, which would also directly affect the other phytoconstituents of the product.
Our studies attempted to develop the marker profile of Andrographis paniculata, Berberis aristata, and Phyllanthus amarus, which are used as hepatoprotectives in the Indian system of medicine. The plant extracts were subjected for high-performance thin-layer chromatographic analysis along with the respective standard markers. Andrographolide appeared at retardation factor Rf 0.7 in a methanolic extract of A. paniculata with a chloroform:methanol (70:10) solvent system. Berberine appeared at Rf 3.6 in a petroleum ether extract of B. aristata with an n-propanol:formic acid:water (90:1:9) solvent system. Phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin appeared at Rf 0.3 and 0.4, respectively, in a methanolic extract of P. amarus with a hexane:ethyl acetate (2:1) solvent system. Densitometric scanning produced characteristic chromatographs. Such characteristic chromatographs can be used as standard fingerprint to develop a quality control protocol for plant materials.
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