European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND HPTLC ANALYSIS OF THE DRUGS USED FOR THE PREPARATION OF NILAPPANAI CHOORANAM– A SIDDHA FORMULATION

S. Selvarajan, V. Gayathri Devi*, Rejani R. and Anitha John

ABSTRACT

Plants are the major source of naturally occurring medicines. The efficacy and popularity of any system of medicine depends on the quality of medicines used for the treatment. Nilappanai chooranam is an important Siddha medicine which is used for Oligospermia and Leucorrhoea. Oligospermia and Leucorrhoea are very common health problems in India. Nilappanai chooranam has seven ingredients which are Curculigo orchiodes Gaertn. (Rhizome), Mucuna pruriens Bak. (Seed), Tribulus terrestris Linn. (Fruit), Emblica officinalis Gaertn. (Dried Fruit), Bombax malabaricum DC. (Exudate), Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers (Stem Extract) and Borasses flabellifer Linn. (Secondary product of Fruit). Present study comprises of the determination of physicochemical, preliminary phytochemical and HPTLC analysis of these plant materials. The physicochemical parameters like loss on drying at 105°C, ash content, acid insoluble ash, water soluble ash, solubility in water and alcohol, volatile oil, etc. were determined by standard methods. The preliminary phytochemical tests were carried out using different extractives of the plant material. HPTLC fingerprints were taken. These results obtained for each drug material can be conveniently used as tools for standardization. Apart from these studies, this paper attempts to encompass the available literature on these 7 drug materials with respect to its vernacular names, phytochemical aspects and traditional uses.

Keywords: Nilappanai chooranam, physico-chemical parameters, HPTLC profiles, phytochemical tests.