Pharmacognostical studies on leaves of Mussaenda frondosa Linn.

Abstract

The Mussaenda frondosa Linn. belonging to the family Rubiaceae, commonly known as Sriparnah in Sanskrit, is a scandent shrub traditionally used in the treatment of cough, bronchitis, fever, inflammation, wounds, ulcers, jaundice, leucoderma and pruritus. Though it is an important plant, till date, no pharmacognostical reports have been available on its leaf. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to ascertain the requisite pharmacognostical standards for the standardization of the Mussaenda frondosa leaves. Various investigations like Pharmacognostical studies, preliminary phytochemical screening and High-Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) analysis were carried out, and the salient qualitative parameters were reported. Microscopical evaluation of the leaf revealed the presence of paracytic stomata, microcrystal’s, Idioblast, collenchymas, sand crystals and unicellular unbranched covering Trichomes. The presence of flavonoids, steroids, glycosides, mucilage, saponins and proteins were confirmed through Preliminary phytochemical studies. The HPTLC profile of ethanol extract from M. frondosa L. revealed ten phytoconstituents of Rf value ranging from 0.11 to 0.88. The significant peaks are observed at Rf values of 0.11, 0.16, 0.23 and 0.81. These findings provide referential information for correct identification and standardization of the Musssaenda frondosa leaves, even in powder form. This information will also be useful to distinguish Mussaenda frondosa from the closely related other species of Mussaenda. The Pharmacognostic and phytochemical profiles reported in this research work for Mussaenda frondosa may play a major role in setting monograph of the plant, which might be helpful in proper identification of the plant.