HPTLC in herbal drug analysis

Herbal drugs are gaining popularity nowadays as it has a reputation of being clean, organic and safe for consumption due to their natural source and ingredients. Herbal drugs are used as supplements. They consist of health systems such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy and Naturopathy. Herbal medicines/drugs are plant-derived materials with therapeutic and different health benefits for humans, which are acquired or captured from the plants and their part.

Any drug before being brought into the market has to be tested and clinical trials have to be taken. Herbal drugs are more prone to adulteration. Many times, it is a polyherbal formulation meaning it is made up of different herbs/ plants.

HPTLC is an efficient tool for herbal drug analysis. The herbal matrix is complex in nature and since HPTLC has disposable layers there is no damage to the instrument. Hence, HPTLC is used in herbal drug standardization. These medicines are prone to adulteration by notorious dealers and manufacturers who mix sub-standard material for profits. HPTLC has an application for the detection of adulteration of herbal drugs. For example, CAMAG’s HPTLC systems (HPTLC & HPTLC Pro) in herbal drug analysis offers the tools and expertise required to withstand any scrutiny regarding botanical materials.

Chromatographic fingerprinting is crucial in the manufacturing of herbal products. Traditional chromatographic fingerprint analysis provides quantitative information. However, the biological activity of polyherbal solutions is not related to their quantity, rather the quality. Right from determining the chemical composition of herbal compounds to the quality control of finished medicines, HPTLC for drug analysis has drastically revolutionized the naturopathy field.

One example of herbal drug application is as follows:

Detection of Gallic Acid from Samangadi Churna. Samangadi Churna is a polyherbal formulation used for Piles treatment and made up of 8 plants. Anchrom Lab was asked for quantification of gallic acid from the multiherbal formulation. CAMAG HPTLC was used for the detection of gallic acid.

We developed a new HPTLC method for this purpose and successfully quantified gallic acid from the churna. Gallic acid was successfully quantified under UV at 254nm from this difficult sample matrix.