Pharmacognostical and pharmaceutical analysis of Triphala Kajjali tablet-an ayurvedic herbomineral formulation for metabolic syndrome

Abstract

Background: Triphala is one of the most easily available and commonly used medicine which contains fine powder of three fruits viz. Terminalia chebula Retz. (Haritaki), Terminalia bellerica Roxb. (Bibhitaki) and Embilica officinalis Gaertn. (Amalaki) and is indicated as one of the drugs for management of disorders of Kapha and Meda. Due to bitter and astringent taste of Triphala in the powder form is a major complaint of the patients. So, to discover that form of Triphala, which is easy to take, effective in low dose, has long shelf life and simple to dispense is the need. For assurance of quality of herbal compounds pharmacognostical and pharmaceutical analysis should be done. Methods: Triphala Kajjali was subjected to microscopic evaluation for pharmacognostical, physiochemical analysis like hardness, weight variation, loss on drying, ash value, acid insoluble extract, pH value, water soluble extract, alcohol soluble extract and high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC).Results: Pharmacognostical study showed the presence of certain identifying characters of all of the ingredients of Triphala Kajjali that is Haritaki, Bibhitaki and Amalaki. In pharmaceutical study, preliminary physiochemical analysis showed that hardness of the tablet was 2.05 kg/cm2, ash value 4.03%w/w, loss on drying 5.5%w/w, water soluble extract 5.89%w/w, alcohol soluble extract 25.96%w/w and HPTLC showed 7 spots in 254 nm and 7 spots in 366 nm.Conclusions: Pharmacognostical and physico-chemical observations revealed the specific characters of all active constituents of Triphala Kajjali and confirmed the purity and genuinity of the drug.