THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY - AS A TOOL FOR STANDARDIZATION OF AYURVEDIC MEDICINE, TRIKATU CHURNA

Evaluation and standardization of Ayurvedic and other alternative systems of medicine has become highly pertinent to bring them to the main stream of medicinal practice. Trikatu churna is well known polyherbal medicine in Ayurveda consisting of powders of three ingredients, namely, Piper longum, Piper nigrum and Zingiber officinale in equal proportions. Trikatu is also known as “Three Bitters”, which is of pungent taste. This combination streamlines the metabolism of the body and is indicated in a wide range of health problems like asthma, fever cold, cough, as purgative, carminative, to reduce obesity, indigestion, high cholesterol, slow metabolism, hypothyroidism, congestion, edema etc. The present study deals with the detection of important phytochemicals such as alkaloid, steroid, terpenoid and flavonoid present in this churna by TLC analysis. The analysis of various constituents of Trikatu separately and also in various combinations was undertaken to understand the influence of one on another. A comparison was also done with the customized sample of Trikatu with seven market samples to find out the variation among them. The activity of these metabolites were in the order of alkaloids, steroids, flavonoids and terpenoids, respectively, as observed by their rf values. When the market samples were compared with the results of CS, it was observed that M1, M2 and M3 were close to that of CS. M4, M5, M6 and M7 were not matching with respect to all the four metabolites. The reasons for such variations are discussed and the need for standardization is emphasized. Key words: TLC, Ayurveda, Phytochemical, Alkaloid, Steroids, Terpenoid, Flavonoid