Open AccessEFFECT OF SHODHANA (PURIFICATION/PROCESSING) ON POWDER MICROSCOPICAL AND ANALYTICAL PARAMETERS OF GUNJA (ABRUS PRECATORIUS LINN.) SEEDS
Author(s) -
Sudipta Roy,
Rabinarayan Acharya,
Preeti Pandya
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences/international journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2656-0097
pISSN - 0975-1491
DOI - 10.22159/ijpps.2016v8i11.12949
Subject(s) - phytochemical , traditional medicine , abrus precatorius , food science , saponin , sugar , glycoside , biology , medicine , botany , alternative medicine , pathology
Objective: Seeds of Gunja (Abrus precatorius Linn.) are being used by the Ayurvedic physicians for the management of different diseases only after proper shodhana (processing) with some specific media like godugdha (cow's milk), kanji (sour gruel) and nimbu swarasa (lemon juice). The impact of shodhana on gunja seed through microscopical and analytical profile have not been studied and reported scientifically yet. Hence, the present study has been designed to evaluate the effect of shodhana on phyto-pharmacognostical characters of Gunja seeds.Methods: Red variety of Gunja seeds were processed with cow's milk for six hours whereas sour gruel, lemon juice and water (as control) for three hours following the standard procedures for swedana (boiling), recommended by the classical text of Ayurveda. The obtained seeds were investigated for their powder microscopical characters and phytochemical characters like preliminary phytochemical screening (qualitative test) and quantitative estimation for protein following standard protocol.Results: Organoleptic study shows variations in colour, odour, taste and appearance in all samples (coarse powder) after shodhana. Powder microscopical study highlights some changes like more number of oil globules in godugdha (cow's milk) shodhita and starch grains in kanji (sour gruel) shodhita gunja seeds. Preliminary phytochemical screening reveals the presence of alkaloids, saponin glycoside, flavonoids, reducing sugar, etc. and protein estimation shows the minimization of protein contents in most of the sample after shodhana.Conclusion: The observed data can be helpful to delineate the impact of shodhana process on gunja seeds.