A rapid and simple scheme for the standardization of polyherbal drugs

In America and Europe, fast growing awareness and confidence has been shown by consumers for alternative medicine. The Indian system of medicine comprises of Ayurved, Unani and Siddha. In these systems maximum drugs are made up of polyherbal materials. The Indian System of Medicine is a pioneer in the use of herbominiral material as medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 1999, had given a detail protocol for the standardization of herbal drugs comprising of a single content, but very little literature is available for the standardization of polyherbal drugs. We have developed a rapid and simple scheme for the standardization and authentication of a polyherbal drug comprising of many substances. Madhunashini is a polyherbal drug, which is a complex mixture of different herbal and mineral substances. We have undertaken the task of developing a novel scheme for a sensitive, specific and accurate standardization of Divya Madhunashini. The present scheme could also be applicable for the standardization of other polyherbal drugs, for their consistency, potency and efficacy. A packet of 120 tablets of Madhunashini, 500 mg, has been taken from the Divya pharmacy, Haridwar outlet; batch No.DPO-12 Exp. 9/2009. Madhunashini is a mixture of 23 poly herbal materials. We have categorized all 23 herbominiral materials into four categories, alkaloid content, glycoside content, bitter content and tannin content. Our result indicates that the extraction of polyherbal drugs in different solvents, in a particular sequence, yields all the four categories of active constituents, which are further identified by high performance thin layer chromatography, whereas, material extracted with one solvent has not exhibited any clear Rf values and always appears in the formof a tail.