ABSTRACT
Background: Shankhpushpi is an Ayurvedic drug, widely used for its actions on the central nervoussystem, especially to improve intellect and boost memory. Four botanicals viz. Canscora decussata Schult.(CD), Clitorea ternatea Linn. (CT), Convolvulus pluricaulis Choisy. (CP) and Evolvulus alsinoides Linn. (EA)are considered as sources of Shankhpushpi by Indian practitioners on the basis of their morphologicaldescriptions given in ancient texts.Objective: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the neuropharmacological effect of four herbscommonly identified as source of Shankhpushpi.Materials and methods: Methanol extracts of all four varieties were tested and evaluated in vitro and invivo for their neuropharmacological effects. Experiments such as protection against b-amyloid inducedneurotoxicity on brain cell line (Neuro 2A), antioxidant potential, AchE (acetylcholinesterase enzyme)inhibition, and 5-LOX (lipoxygenase) enzyme inhibition were conducted for in vitro evaluation. For in vivoevaluation, scopolamine (0.3 mg/kg i.p.) induced memory retrieval using pole climbing apparatus andMorris water maze were performed in rat models.Results: It was found that protective effects of EA and CD against b-amyloid induced neurotoxicity inNeuro 2A cells were significantly higher than CT and CP. EA proved to be superior than other varieties onthe basis of antioxidant activity, AchE inhibitory and LOX inhibitory activities. The preventive activity ofEA on scopolamine induced memory retrieval in pole climbing and Morris water maze task in rats wasfound to be higher than that of CD, CT and CP.Conclusion: EA has remarkable neuropharmacological effect as compared to other three varietiesof Shankhpushpi. This effect may be attributed due to the presence of steroids (stigmasterol and betulinicacid), coumarins (scopoletin) and flavonoids (b-carotene and chlorogenic acid). Hence it can be used as apromising lead in development and management of neuronal disorders including Alzheimer's disease.© 2017 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation. Publishing Services byElsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
ABSTRACT
AbstractMangiferin (polyphenolic xanthone) and scopoletin (phenolic coumarin) are well-studied biological markers present in Canscora decussata(Roxb.) Roem. & Schult., Gentianaceae. The objective set for the present studies is to establish and develop a new, simple, selective, sensitive, and precise high performance thin layer chromatography method for the simultaneous estimation of mangiferin and scopoletin in hydroalcoholic extract of C. decussata. The thin layer chromatographic separation of these biomarkers was carried out on aluminum plate pre-coated with silica gel 60F254, eluted with ethyl acetate:acetic acid:formic acid:water (10:0.5:0.5:1.5). The plate was then dried and densitometric scanning was performed at 254 nm using a Camag TLC scanner III. The system was found to give compact spots for mangiferin (RF 0.22) and scopoletin (RF 0.78). A good relationship of linear precision between the concentrations (100–600 ng/spot) and peak areas was obtained with correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9979 (mangiferin) and 0.9962 (scopoletin), respectively. The limits of detection and limit of quantification were determined to be 46 and 94 ng/spot for mangiferin and 31 and 78 ng/spot for scopoletin respectively. The percentage of recovery was found from 99.91 to 99.94% for mangiferin and 99.75 to 99.86% for scopoletin. Results obtained from recovery studies showed excellent reliability and reproducibility of the method. Present communication on validated high performance thin layer chromatography method may provide a new, selective, sensitive, and precise method to estimate mangiferin and scopoletin as phytomarkers in the hydroalcoholic extract of C. decussata used in Ayurvedic formulations.