1Department of Dravyaguna, Faculty of Ayurveda, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, India
2Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Modern Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, India
3Department of Pharmaceutics, Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, India
*Corresponding author: V.K. Joshi, e-mail: vkjoshivns@sify.net
Online published on 11 July, 2014.
The fruit pulp of Cassia fistula Linn. is known to have purgative properties. A specific process, i.e., keeping well ripe fruits buried within sand for seven days and then drying in sun prior to its medicinal use, has been mentioned in Charaka Samhita. To explore the effect of above classical processing, a comparative physiochemical and phytochemical evaluation of classically processed (PD) and non-processed (NPD) fruit pulp of Cassia fistula has been done together with HPTLC. Results of the study showed presence of alkaloid, glycosides, steroids, triterpenes, phenolic compounds, tannins, proteins, amino acids and carbohydrats in both types of samples. The extractive values of PD and NPD were 18.25% w/v and 15.65% w/v, respectively. The difference in physiochemical analysis of PD and NPD was also recorded and the HPTLC of PD sample showed an extra peak around Rf 0.76 in comparison to NPD. These results signify appreciable changes in classically processed sample of Cassia fistula fruit pulp and provide scientific evidence for the classical processing.
Cassia fistula, physiochemical analysis, phytochemical analysis, HPTLC, fruit pulp
