Quantitative analysis of homeopathic mother tincture ofBoerhaavia diffusaLinn. by HPTLC employing the therapeutically active marker “punarnavoside”

Abstract

Boerhaavia diffusa Linn. (Family: Nyctaginaceae) is a diffusely branched plant, widely distributed throughout India, mainly used for its diuretic and hepatoprotective effect [1], although unproven reported uses of the plant include cardiotonic, antiinflammatory, antifibrinolytic, and antiviral activity [2]. The plant is reported to contain alkaloids (punarnavine-I and punarnavine-II), an antifibrinolytic glycoside (punarnavoside), rotenoids (boeravinones A, B, C, D and E), lignan (liridodendrin and syringaresinol mono-β-D-glucoside), flavones, steroisofuroxanthone, boeravine, and hypoxanthin-9-L-arabinofuranoside [2]. The plant is marketed as a homeopathic mother tincture which contains punarnavoside as therapeutically active phytoconstituent. The structure of punarnavoside is shown in Figure 1. Although research on the phytoconstituents of this plant has been reported, no work seems to have been performed on quantitative evaluation of the mother tincture by HPTLC. The Indian Herbal Pharmacopoeia reports the use of UV spectrophotometry and TLC for the analysis of punarnavoside but the Indian Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia does not describe quantitative analysis of the mother tincture of Boerhaavia diffusa, important for standardization of the product. HPTLC fingerprinting has been reported as an effective tool for evaluation of herbal extracts [3, 4]. This communication reports the isolation and identification of punarnavoside and its use to establish a simple validated HPTLC method for quantitative estimation of the compound. The method has been used to compare amounts of punarnavoside in mother tinctures prepared from the roots of the plant and in an ethanolic extract of the roots prepared in this laboratory. On the basis of the results obtained, a probable range of concentration of punarnavoside expected to be present in a standard preparation of mother tincture of this plant has been established.