Rhoifoiln

Background: Uraria picta Desv. is one of the ingredient of ten herbs formulation called Dashmoola. Rhoifolin is an active compound which has been isolated from the aerial parts of Uraria picta and has been established as marker compound for quality evaluation of this species. In the present time of global resurgence in traditional and alternative health care systems, the quality assurance of medicinal plants is very essential. Since, WHO and herbal pharmacopoeia are also emphasizing on quality standardization of medicinal plants in terms of active ingredients, the present study was aimed to assess the variation in rhoifolin content in aerial parts of Uraria picta collected from eight locations of Madhya Pradesh for its quality standardization and selection of superior chemotype. Methods: The powdered samples of aerial parts were extracted by soxhlet extraction in methanol  for  4  hours on water bath. Extracts were quantified for rhoifolin content using Ethyl acetate: Formic acid: Glacial acetic acid: Water (10: 1.1: 1.1: 2.6) mobile phase and a CAMAG HPTLC system equipped with Linomat V applicator, TLC scanner, WIN CATS software Version 1.4.8 and Hamilton Syringe (100 µL).  Results: Rhoifolin content varied from 0.039% to 0.195% among the aerial part samples of eight locations corresponding to seven agroclimatic regions of the state. The highest content was found in aerial parts of Pandado, Sehore (0.25%) followed by Kapoornala, Chhindwara (0.167%) and Pamakhedi, Khandwa (0.152%) respectively and lowest content in plant sample of  Navali, Mandsaur (0.039%). Conclusions: The study provided significant variation  in rhoifolin content in aerial parts of Uraria picta. The accession collected from Pandado, Sehore emerged out of best quality on the basis of rhoifolin content and superior chemotype too.