International Journal of Drug Development & Research | January-March 2013 | Vol. 5 | Issue 1 | ISSN 0975-9344 | Available online http://www.ijddr.

in Covered in Official Product of Elsevier, The Netherlands SJR Impact Value 0.13 & H index 2 2013 IJDDR Pharmacognostic and Preliminary Phytochemical Analysis of Sauropus androgynus (L) Merr. Leaf
Ankad Gireesh 1*, Hegde Harsha1, Hurkadale Pramod2 and Kholkute S.D1
2

Regional Medical Research Centre (ICMR), Nehru Nagar, Belgaum, 590 010 - India Dept. of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, KLE Universitys College of Pharmacy, JNMC Campus, Nehru Nagar, Belgaum, 590 010 - India
Ankad Gireesh*, Hegde Harsha, Hurkadale Pramod and Kholkute S. D Pharmacognostic and Preliminary Phytochemical Analysis of Sauropus androgynus (L) Merr. Leaf Int. J. Drug Dev. & Res., January-March 2013, 5(1): 321-325. Copyright 2013 IJDDR, Ankad Gireesh et al. This is an open access paper distributed under the copyright agreement with Serials Publication, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Article History:-----------------------Date of Submission: 29-01-2013 Date of Acceptance: 18-02-2013 Conflict of Interest: NIL Source of Support: NONE INTRODUCTION

Abstract The leaves of Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merr. are used in traditional medicine to treat various

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disorders and also used as vegetable for its nutritive value. Such plant having medicinal and nutritive values lacks pharmacognostical and preliminary phytochemical information. Hence the present work is intended to study pharmacognostical and preliminary phytochemical studies, which will serve as quality control parameters. The pharmacognostical parameters like transverse section of midrib, epidermal parameters, leaf constants, organoleptic characters, physicochemical parameters, extractive values and preliminary phytochemical analysis have been made. The study will provide information with respect to identification of plant material.

*Corresponding author, Mailing address: Ankad Gireesh Email: drgirishankad@gmail.com

Plants have been one of the important sources of medicine since ages. In spite of developments in the field of allopathy, plants still remain as one of the major sources of drugs in modern as well as in traditional systems of medicine throughout the world.

Key words: Sauropus androgynus, traditional medicine, pharmacognostical, priliminary phytochemical. How to Cite this Paper:

Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merr. belonging to family Euphorbiaceae

[1, 2].

is

an

erect

shrub,

sometimes

cultivated in gardens[1]. Leaves are used as vegetables In traditional system of medicine the leaves are

Int. J. Drug Dev. & Res., January-March 2013, 5 (1): 321-325 Covered in Scopus & Embase, Elsevier

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Ankad Gireesh et al: Pharmacognostic and Preliminary Phytochemical Analysis of Sauropus androgynus (L) Merr. Leaf used to treat various disorders like epistaxis, oriental sores, used as application for oral thrush in infants, paste is applied over nasal ulcers and yaws, erythema and measles
[3].

scale bars, photographs were taken with Olympus BX-41 microscope. Organoleptic characters, Physicochemical analysis and Extractive values The collected leaves were washed, shade dried and pulverized. Powder obtained by pulverization was used for organoleptic characters to evaluate color, texture, odour and taste. Physicochemical parameters were done to evaluate the percentage of

The leaves pounded with milk are

[4].

applied topically for hair growth and decoction taken orally for hypertension debility, The anemia etc. Apart from its traditional it is called as on medicinal use it is used by local folk healers to treat Locally provides Multivitamin plant. present work information and

loss on drying, total ash content, acid insoluble ash and water soluble ash. Extracts of powdered leaves were prepared with different solvents for the study of extractive values [8, 9]. Preliminary phytochemical analysis Aqueous and ethanol extracts were prepared to find out the presence of secondary metabolites performing various tests
[10, 11].

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pharmacognostical

evaluation

preliminary

phytochemical screening of leaves, aiming to aid the identification of plant material. MATERIALS AND METHODS Collection of Plant Materials Fresh leaves of Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merr. were collected from authenticated plant source. Voucher specimens (No. RMRC 614) were prepared and deposited in herbarium repository of RMRC Belgaum for future reference. TS of midrib, Lamina, Epidermal Characters and Determination of Leaf Constants Fresh leaves of Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merr. were used for microscopic sectioning. Sharp razor blades were used to take transverse section passing through midrib and lamina. Numerous temporary and permanent mounts of the sections were made and examined. Sections were treated with phloroglucinol and Conc. HCl to examine lignified tissue. Upper and lower epidermal layers were peeled to study the epidermal characters [5]. Leaf constants were determined according to

Results and Discussions TS of midrib, Lamina, Epidermal Characters and Leaf Constants Fig. 1: T. S of midrib

Fig 2: Lamina

standard methods with the help of camera Lucida after calibrating the microscope using stage and ocular micrometers. Leaf constants were observed from leaves collected from different plants to ensure the variations of characters and average result of characters were mentioned [6, 7]. Microphotographs Microscopic descriptions of tissues were justified with microphotographs mentioned with appropriate

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Int. J. Drug Dev. & Res., January-March 2013, 5 (1): 321-325 Covered in Scopus & Embase, Elsevier

Ankad Gireesh et al: Pharmacognostic and Preliminary Phytochemical Analysis of Sauropus androgynus (L) Merr. Leaf Fig. 3: Crystals of calcium oxalate The lamina of leaf shows three distinct regions namely adaxial epidermis, abaxial epidermis and mesophyll tissue (Fig 2). The adaxial epidermis is single layered consisting of squarish to rectangular cells bearing cuticle. Abaxial epidermis is composed of rounded cells. The mesophyll a tissue is differentiated into two regions namely, an upper palisade parenchyma and lower spongy parenchyma. Palisade parenchyma is composed of single layer of elongated, compactly arranged cells The Transverse Section (TS) passing through midrib is dorsiventral in nature (Fig 1). It has prominent adaxial hump which is composed of collenchymatous tissue and wide semi circular abaxial part. The vascular bundle composed of xylem and phloem in the form of an arc spreading towards lower surface, a band of collenchymatous pericycle found at the lower side of the arc. Epidermal characters: (i) Fig. 4a, 4b: Adaxial epidermis beneath adaxial epidermis. This region is devoid of intercellular spaces, the cells contain chloroplasts. Spongy parenchymatous region composed of 3 to 5 layers of loosely arranged spherical or oval cells with intercellular spaces. These cells contain chloroplasts, some cells are embedded with microsphinoidal crystals of calcium oxalate (Fig 3).

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The adaxial epidermis is composed of irregular shaped cells with wavy walls (Fig 4a, 4b). The size of
Characters Type of epidermal cells Size of epidermal cells Type of stomata Epidermal cells / unit area

the epidermal cells and number of epidermal cells per unit area are mentioned in Table 1
Inference Irregular shaped with wavy walls 101.8 to 214.7 m -1275 to 1310

Table 1

(ii) Fig. 5a, 5b: Abaxial epidermis

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Ankad Gireesh et al: Pharmacognostic and Preliminary Phytochemical Analysis of Sauropus androgynus (L) Merr. Leaf The abaxial epidermis is composed of irregular shaped wavy walled cells with paracytic stomatas (Fig 5a, 5b). The size of the epidermal cells and number of epidermal cells per unit area are mentioned in Table 2. Leaf constants viz. stomatal number, stomatal index, vein islet number, vein termination number and palisade ratio are mentioned in Table 3. Table 2:
Characters Type of epidermal cells Size of epidermal cells Type of stomata Epidermal cells / unit area Inference Irregular shaped with wavy walls 137.5 to 290.36 m Paracytic 1150 to 1175 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 1. S. No

results of tests for the detection of phytochemicals are mentioned in Table 7. Table 7
Name of the Test Carbohydrates i) Benedicts test ii) Molischs test iii) Fehlings test Protein i) Bradfords test Tannins Saponins Flavonoids Terpenoids Glycosides Phenolics Steriods Alkaloids i) Mayers test ii) Drangendroffs test Inference +

+ + + + + + +

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Table 3: Leaf constants

Leaf constants Adaxial epidermis Stomatal number Abaxial epidermis Adaxial epidermis Stomatal index Abaxial epidermis Vein islet number Vein termination number Palisade ratio Values -180 to 195 -13.84 14.49 1 to 2 1 to 2 6

CONCLUSIONS: Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merr. belonging to family Euphorbiaceae is used to treat various disorders in traditional system of medicine
[3, 4].

The study also

Organoleptic

Characters,

Physicochemical

showed that food preparations made out of the leaf were highly palatable and acceptable, scores for acceptability being around 80%. Merely because the leaf contains good amounts of all the nutrients and the food preparations were highly acceptable
[2].

Analysis and Extractive Values The results are mentioned in Table 5, 6, and 7 Table 4: Organoleptic characters
Characters Colour Texture Odour Taste Inference Green Dry fine powder Characteristic Bitter

The

present study provides the information regarding standardization parameters which will help in identification of plant material. These parameters will be helpful for authentication of drug and also differentiation from substitutes or adulterants. Acknowledgment: Authors are indebted to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for funding the study through the internal funds of RMRC. Authors are thankful to Mr. Bhoopal Talwar, Lab Attendant, RMRC Belgaum, for his assistance. REFERENCES:

Table 5: Physicochemical parameters

Tests Values Loss on drying 4.32 % w/w Total ash content 10.70 % w/w Acid insoluble ash 0.22 % w/w Water soluble ash 4.91 % w/w

Table 6: Extractive values

Tests Values Water soluble extractive 32.626 % w/w Alcohol soluble extractive 21.927 % w/w

Preliminary Phytochemical Analysis Ethanol and aqueous extracts were treated with various reagents to detect the phytochemicals. The

1)

Gopalakrishna Bhat K. Flora of Udupi. Manipal, Manipal press limited, 2003, 582.

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Ankad Gireesh et al: Pharmacognostic and Preliminary Phytochemical Analysis of Sauropus androgynus (L) Merr. Leaf
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