title: High performance thin layer chromatography fingerprinting, phytochemical and physico-chemical studies of anti-diabetic herbal extracts.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Herbal medicines have gained increasing popularity in the last few decades, and this global resurgence of herbal medicines increases their commercial value. However, this increasing demand has resulted in a decline in their quality, primarily due to a lack of adequate regulations pertaining to herbal medicines.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To develop an optimized methodology for the standardization of herbal raw materials.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study has been designed to examine each of the five herbal anti-diabetic drugs, Gymnema sylvester R. Br., Pterocarpus marsupium Roxburgh., Enicostema littorale Blume., Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels. and Emblica officinalis Gaertn. The in-house extracts and marketed extracts were evaluated using physicochemical parameters, preliminary phytochemical screening, quantification of polyphenols (Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetric method) and high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) fingerprint profiling with reference to marker compounds in plant extracts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All the plants mainly contain polyphenolic compounds and are quantified in the range of 3.6-21.72% w/w. E. officinalis contain the highest and E. littorale contain the lowest content of polyphenol among plant extracts analyzed. HPTLC fingerprinting showed that the in-house extracts were of better quality than marketed extracts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results obtained from the study could be utilized for setting limits for the reference phytoconstituents (biomarker) for the quality control and quality assurance of these anti-diabetic drugs.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Prakash R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Itankar
authors.affiliation: University Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Dattatray B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Sawant
authors.affiliation: University Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Mohd
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tauqeer
authors.affiliation: University Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Sonal S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Charde
keywords: Anti-diabetic; high performance thin layer chromatography fingerprint; physicochemical parameters; standardization