Development and characterization of spheroidal antidiabetic polyherbal formulation from fresh vegetable juice: A novel approach.

Polyherbal Formulations (PHF) were developed by combining fruit juices of Momordica charantia, Cucumis sativus, and Solanum lycopersicum in different ratios and optimized through Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) model. PHF-C pretreated rats showed the highest reduction of Serum Glucose Levels (SGL) after 60 min of glucose administration. PHF-C was incorporated into spheroids using fresh juice (FJS) and lyophilized powder (LPS) of selected plants. In OGTT study, LPS showed a significant reduction of SGL. LPS was characterized as almost spherical, having disintegration time 8 min, adequate friability, and good flow properties. In STZ-induced diabetic rats on 7th, 14th, and 21st days, LPS was reduced SGL by 9.01%, 20.9%, 38.9% (250 mg/kg dose); 20.5%, 33.9%, and 50.7% (500 mg/kg dose), respectively. LPS showed a significant improvement in abnormal body weight, biochemical, and oxidative parameters in comparison to PHF-C and metformin. Novel formulation LPS (500 mg/kg) was found more effective (p < .05) in reversing STZ-induced hyperglycemia as compared to PHF-C (1,000 mg/kg) and at par with metformin (500 mg/kg). PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Fresh vegetable juice contains large quantities of vitamins and minerals. Cooking and processing of fruits may destroy their nutritional value. However, FJS also has some limitations, including seasonal specificity, patient compliance, less stability, loss of vitamins and fibers, abnormal sugar level, weak immunity, and difficult to carry by patients. Lyophilization is a well-known method to improve the physical state, shelf life, and stability of phytoconstituents. Poor absorption and less bioavailability also impede the acceptance of PHF. To overcome these limitations, a suitable novel drug delivery system is required which has high therapeutic efficacy and enhanced bioavailability. The patented spheroids of herbal extracts which are in use for the treatment of the number of diseases encouraged the present work. Spheroid protects the constituents of herbal drugs from gastric destruction and gut bacteria. The outcome of present research supports the concept of enhanced stability and bioavailability of phytoconstituents present in FJS.

Ashtawarga plants - Suffering a triple standardization syndrome.

Ayurveda is one of the oldest known holistic health care systems recommending diverse medicinal uses of plants for prevention and cure of diseases and illness. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the holistic system is gaining more popularity due to its easy availability, low cost, congeniality, better accessibility and higher safety than allopathic medicine. Demand of herbal drugs is increasing day-by-day because of increasing popularity of herbal drugs; however market fails to meet this supply due to numerous factors, one of the important factors being the extinction of these plants from local flora. About 560 herbal species of India have been included in the Red List of Threatened species. Hence to overcome problem of non-availability of endangered species, Department of AYUSH, Govt. of India has permitted the substitution of rare herbal drugs with available substitutes on the basis of Ayurvedic concepts. Due to this, herbal drug industry has started exploiting the situation and now Ayurvedic products are suffering from a serious problem of adulteration with addition of spoiled, inferior, spurious drugs that are inferior in therapeutic/chemical properties and used to enhance profits. Adulteration with other plants degrades the quality and credibility of Ayurvedic medicine. Ashtawarga plants being an important part of many Ayurvedic formulations are also available in a very limited amount and likely to be substituted by cheap adulterants. Keeping in view the above situation, a metadata analysis has been conducted to find out types of adulteration/substitutions malpractices going on for Ashtawarga plants.

Isolation and characterization of quinine from Polygonatum verticillatum: A new marker approach to identify substitution and adulteration.

Polygonatum verticillatum (Mahameda) is an important ingredient of Ashtawarga and Ayurvedic formulations. Nowadays, it comes under the category of endangered plants due to large scale and indiscriminate collection of wild material. To overcome the scarcity, substitutes of Mahameda are also commonly used in market. These additives are different from the authentic plant by Ayurvedic and pharmacological theory of drug action, thereby resulting in substitution/adulteration. Substitution is a critical issue in isolation and quantification of the therapeutically active ingredients that can be used as markers in the identification of substitution/adulteration. Methanolic extract of the rhizomes of P. verticillatum was subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening for the detection of phytoconstituents, followed by column chromatography for isolation of the marker. The column was first eluted with pure hexane, and polarity of the solvent was gradually increased. A total of 1180 fractions were collected and pooled on the basis of thin-layer chromatography profile. The single compound was isolated and confirmed by chemical test, melting point, spectral analysis, and comparison with literature. Phytochemical screening of the extract shows the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, terpenoids, and phenolics. A pure white crystalline powder was isolated by column chromatography which was characterized as (6-methoxyquinolin-4-yl-8-vinylquinuclidin-2-yl) methanol, i.e. Quinine. The isolated compound, Quinine, was identified as a novel compound in Mahameda as it has not been reported in the genus Polygonatum, till now. It can be used as a marker for the identification of substitution/adulteration and standardization of P. verticillatum.