Quality Control Analysis of Khamira Marwareed a Unani Cardioprotective Formulation

Unani system of Medicine is based on the principles proposed by Galen, a Greek practitioner. Since then, many Arab and Persian scholars have contributed to the system. Among them Ibn-e-Sina, an Arab philosopher and Physicist who wrote 'Kitab-al-shifa' is worth mentioning. This system has an extensive and inspiring record in India.[1] Khamira Marwareed (KM) an herbo-mineral Unani semisolid sugar based preparation is an effective and potent cardiac tonic with well-known antioxidant properties. However no considerable attempt has been made for quality evaluation of KM. Here an attempt was made for the development of quality standards for KM. Physicochemical parameters of the prepared compound formulation KM were studied, such as total ash, acid insoluble ash, water soluble ash, solubility matter in alcohol and water, loss on drying at 105°C, pH of 1% and 10% solution as per the methods described in WHO guidelines. The heavy metal, aflatoxins and pesticide residue were also determined for safety evaluation. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents were estimated by using catechin and quercetin as standards after preparing calibration plot, respectively. HPTLC finger printing of hydrolysed chloroform extracts of khamira marwareed was carried out to determine number of spots present with HPLC fingerprinting of methanolic extract was also carried out. The present study on pharmacognostic standardization of Khamira Marwareed will provide useful information for its identification and quality control as well as stability testing.

Acknowledgement: Author(s) are thankful to CCRUM (AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt of India) for financial support.

References: Ahmad S. et al. (2010)J Pharm Bioall Sci 2: 93–99.