Quality Control Studies on Specimens of Flos Sambuci
Project no. 241 · Status: Kapanmış · 2016
Summary
Sambucus nigra L., one of the two wild-growing plant species of the genus Sambucus in Turkey, is a plant in the form of shrubs belonging to the family Caprifoliaceae. It is traditionally used in common cold, upper respiratory infections and flu. S. nigra has been scientifically proven to possess antiviral, antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial and antidiabetic effects. In this study, quality control studies have been carried out on four different drug specimens. Two of the specimens were commercial samples (SN2 and SN3) which are sold in a herbal shop and in a pharmacy, respectively. The other two specimens (SN1 and SN4) were collected from İzmir-Bozdağ and Isparta-Gölcük, respectively. All of the samples were examined mainly by using the methods in European Pharmacopoeia 8.0 and in Turkish Pharmacopoeia 2017. Assays for loss on drying, total ash, acid-insoluble ash and sulphated ash were performed. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) was used for the identification and purity control of the drug specimens utilizing rutin and caffeic acid as standards. The spectrophotometric quantitative determination of total flavonoids has also been performed. Moreover, antioxidant potentials of drug specimens were determined by using DPPH radical scavenging activity method based on spectrophotometric measurement. Generally, all samples were compatible with the standards of the pharmacopoeia. Among the tested specimens, the sample with the code SN1 has been found to contain the highest flavonoid content. Additionally, the DPPH radical scavenging potentials of all the specimens have found to be more or less similar to each other with SN1 sample showing the highest activity (IC50:32.09) and SN4 sample displaying the lowest activity (IC50:46.55).