Ergastic Crystal Studies for Raw Drug Analysis

Phytochemical constituents are distributed in various parts of plants and their localization is indicative of their therapeutic properties. Ergastic crystals such as calcium oxalate crystals are also found in almost all plant parts, which is an anti–nutrient as the dietary oxalates contributes to human ailments. Several of the medicinally useful plants contain these crystals and consumption of such plant materials in raw form can cause health problems in humans. Ergastic crystals can be an important diagnostic tool for the identification of raw drug as in Costus pictus a medicinal spiral ginger commonly called Insulin plant is devoid of cuboidal crystal but its related Costus speciosus leaves possess characteristic cuboidal shaped crystal in its leaf mesophyll. Gene manipulation technology may be promising in removing such deleterious genes or introduction of altered bio-chemicals to nullify such effects for the future generation

Ecotypic Variations in Indian Populations of Eryngium Foetidum L.

Aim: The ecotypic variations with respect to total phenolics, flavonoid, tannin and Vitamin-C content in three different populations of E. foetidum collected from Andaman, Darjeeling (West Bengal) and Hassan (Karnataka) have been studied. Methodology: The total phenolic and total tannin content was estimated by FC method against standard pyrogallol and gallic acid respectively. Vitamin C was extracted with 4% oxalic acid solution and estimated using 2, 4- dinitrophenyl hydrazine reagent alongside standard ascorbic acid. The total flavonoid content was determined by Aluminum chloride colorimetric method with standard Quercitin (1mg/ml). The values were expressed as mg/g equivalents of respective standards. Results: A significant difference (p= 0.05%) in the concentration of secondary metabolites among all the studied populations was observed. The total phenolic content was highest in the Darjeeling population, flavonoid and tannin content was maximum in Andaman population and Vitamin C content was predominantly high in the Karnataka population. Conclusion: The variations in phytochemical constituents could be attributed to the possible interaction of the plant populations with their geographical location and their subsequent adaptations to the same