EVALUATION OF RASAYANA CHURNA, AN AYURVEDIC FORMULATION, BY HIGH PERFORMANCE THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY

Rasayana churna is an Ayurvedic formulation, well-known for its adaptogenic and immunomodulatory activities. It consists of three ingredients, viz. Guduchi (stem of Tinospara cordifolia), chhota Gokhru (fruit of Tribulus terrestris) and Amla (fruit of Embelica officinalis) in equal proportions. Standardization of Ayurvedic formulations by modern analytical methods is the need of the hour. This article reports the development and validation of HPTLC methods for evaluation of Rasayana churna by quantification of unique markers for each of its ingredients. Berberine, diosgenin and gallic acid were selected as unique markers for Tinospora cordifolia, Tribulus terrestris and Embelica officinalis, respectively. The analysis was done on precoated silica gel 60 F254 TLC plates using a mobile phase composed of Chloroform: Methanol : Ammonia (8 : 2 : 0.1) for berberine, Hexane : Acetone (7 : 3) for diosgenin and Toluene : Ethyl acetate : Formic acid (3 : 3 : 0.8) for gallic acid. The developed methods were validated as per the ICH guidelines for their linearity, precision, accuracy and sensitivity. The methods follow Beer-Lambert law in the specified concentration range. The proposed methods are accurate, reproducible and sensitive and were found to be suitable for quantification of these marker compounds in Rasayana churna.