Pharmacognostical and Pharmaceutical Analysis of “Ashtanga Ghrita - A Poly Herbal Ayurvedic Formulation”

Abstract

Abstract
Ayurveda is having ample of collection of formulations for effective management of diseases. In the era of geometrical rise of demand for indigenous medicines, maintaining quality standards is the need of hour. Absence of reference standards for compound formulations is a hindrance on the way towards standardization. The present study was aimed at setting a standard pharmacognostical and pharmaceutical profile of Ashtanga Ghrita. The study included preparation of Ashtanga Ghrita along with authentification of raw drugs following all SOPs. Later Ashtanga Ghrita was subjected to pharmaceutical analysis as per standard protocols. The final observations were systematically recorded. Organoleptic features of coarse powder made out of the crude drugs, were within the standard range as per mention in classic. Specific gravity of the prepared Ghrita was 0.9134 and Acid Value was 0.84 and high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) gave a preliminary fingerprint of the formulation after organizing with appropriate solvent system in which maximum three spots were distinguished in HPTLC and most of the Rf values were identical when done with different frequency of UV light. This shows the presence of certain definite constituents in Ashtanga Ghrita. The quality of Ashtanga Ghrita can be ascertained by a cascade of pharmacognostical and pharmaceutical screening for the findings in accordance with the observations of the present study. It was found that the formulation meets the required qualitative standards of a Ghrita at a preliminary level. The results of this study may be used as the reference standard in further research undertakings of its kind.
Keywords: Ashtanga Ghrita, pharmacognosy, pharmaceutical, HPTLC, cerebral palsy