Abstract

Standardization is of great importance to ascertain the botanical identity and quality of herbal drugs. Among the various analytical tools available, HPLC is one of the major tools for the herbal drug standardization. Adhatoda vasica Nees is well known shrub described in Ayurveda particularly for the treatment of respiratory ailments. The potential of the plant as bronchodilator and antitussive is mainly attributed to the presence of pyrrolo [2,1-b] quinazoline alkaloids. In the present study, seasonal variation of the vasicine and deoxyvasicinone in roots and leaves of Adhatoda vasica has been investigated. Maximum amount of vasicine was found in the month of August in both leaves and roots whereas Deoxyvasicinone was found to be maximum in month of December- January in roots and in November for leaves. Vasicine and Deoxyvasicinone were present in higher amounts in leaves as compared to roots. The quantitative estimation of the alkaloids was done by HPLC.

Keywords: Seasonal variation, alkaloids, roots, leaves, isolation, standardization