title: The quantification of ellagic acid in the crude extract of Phyllanthus amarus Schum. & Thonn. (Euphorbiaceae).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Phyllanthus amarus Schum. & Thonn. (Euphorbiaceae), already well known for its antiviral, antihyperglycaemic and antihepatotoxic effects, is also investigated for its antimalarial activity. The major constituent of the crude extract of the whole plant was isolated and identified in this research to be ellagic acid, for which antiplasmodial activity already has been reported.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Because of the potential of the plant and the interesting properties of ellagic acid, an analytical method can be useful for the standardisation of the extracts to allow further biological and pharmacological investigations. In order to obtain an easily performable and inexpensive method, an HPLC analysis was developed and validated.
  
  
  METHODS
  The samples were dissolved in DMSO, ultrasonicated for 15 min, and diluted with 50% methanol. Analysis was performed using water and methanol containing 0.06% TFA and the peaks were detected at 254 nm.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ellagic acid showed a linear relationship in the range of 1.74-20.91 µg/mL and a single-point calibration was allowed. The method was shown to be precise with respect to time (RSD of 1.84%, 3 days, n = 6) and concentration (RSD of 2.54%, 3 levels, n = 6). The overall mean content of ellagic acid was 2.06%. A recovery experiment was performed and it showed an accuracy of 100.4%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the newly developed method is suitable for its purpose, namely the determination of ellagic acid in the crude extract of P. amarus.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Analysis, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium. liene.dhooghe@ua.ac.be
authors.forename: Liene
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dhooghe
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meert
authors.forename: Richard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Cimanga
authors.forename: Arnold J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Vlietinck
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pieters
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Apers
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo; D004610:Ellagic Acid / Q000032:analysis*; D047348:Hydrolyzable Tannins / Q000378:metabolism; D029803:Phyllanthus / Q000737:chemistry*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents
chemical_list: D047348:Hydrolyzable Tannins; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012997:Solvents; D004610:Ellagic Acid