Standardization of the Traditional Herbal Mixtures Marbo-3 and Sorool-4

Abstract

The flora of Mongolia includes about 2823 species of plants belonging to 662 genuses and 128 families. About 300 species constitute the group of medicinal plants. There are approximately 40 large and small pharmaceutical enterprises in Mongolia, which produce about 270 traditional preparations for the domestic market. The annual export of medicinals amounts to 4.8 – 5.2 ton [1]. It is planned that the consumption of the traditional Mongolian preparations and, hence, their production will continue to grow. Unfortunately, the lack of systematic basic investigations devoted to standardization of traditional drugs and to the development of methods for their identification and analysis hinders objective evaluation of the quality of traditional drugs produced in Mongolia and restricts the export. This study was aimed at the complex investigation of the widely used traditional plant preparations Marbo-3 and Sorool-4 by modern physicochemical analytical techniques, evaluation of the content of heavy metals in these preparations, and characterization of the microbiological cleanness of both mixtures and raw plant materials entering into these compositions. This investigation was performed with a view to the development of general principles for the standardization of traditional medicinal plant preparations used in the folk medicine of Mongolia [2]. The herbal mixture Marbo-3 is widely used in Mongolia, Tibetia, India, and China for the treatment of various renal and urinary disorders [3 – 5]. This mixture includes equal proportions of the roots and rhizomes of Indian madder (Rubia cordifolia of Rubiaceae family), the leaves of Japan medlar (Eriobotria japonica of Rosaceae family), and shellac (Laccifer Lacca of Coccideae family). In the first step, we have studied the anatomic structure of the roots and rhizomes of Rubia cordifolia and the leaves of Eriobotria japonica and established their identification characters (Fig. 1). The results of microscopic examination of Marbo-3 obtained from various manufacturers reveal the parenchymal cells of Indian madder and long simple hairs of the upper and lower epiderm cells of the leaves of Japan medlar.