Abstract:
Introduction: Neerizhivu Chooranam 1 is a polyherbal drug, mainly consists of
Terminalia chebula, Embilica officianalis and Murraya koenigiiand it is called as
Mathumaeha Choornam. This medication is especially used in treating Diabetes Mellitus
in Siddha Medicine in Sri Lanka and is given to the patients as a powdered formulation.
There is a necessary to analyse the physicochemical properties and phytochemicals as there
is no evidence of previous data and for its acceptability and safety for stakeholders.
Objective: To evaluate the physicochemical and phytochemical analysis of Neerizhivu
Chooranam 1.
Methodology: The plant parts were collected separately in Jaffna, shade dried and
powdered. The powdered plant parts were mixed in a ratio of 1:1:1 and sieved using 44
mesh sieves. The powdered drugs were subjected to physicochemical tests such as pH
value, moisture content, total ash value, water soluble ash value, acid insoluble ash value,
water-soluble extractives and ethanol soluble extractives. Preliminary phytochemical
screening was done for the methanol extract obtained by maceration of the crude drug. All
analyses were undertaken in triplicate and quantity values were presented as mean ±
standard deviation.
Results: The pH value, moisture content, total ash value, water soluble ash value, acid
insoluble ash value, ethanol soluble extractives and water-soluble extractives were found
to be 3.550±0.020,10.447±0.058%, 5.583±0.144%, 2.650±0.328%, 0.317±0.029%,
5.9730±1.921% and 20.400±0.812%, respectively. The preliminary screening of
phytochemicals indicated the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, reducing
sugars, tannins, steroids, proteins, amino acids, glycosides, phenol, terpenoids and
anthraquinones.
Conclusion: The values obtained from the tests showed good quality of the formulation as
per the previous standard relating to the powder polyherbals formulation and these values
for the Neerizhivu Chooranam 1 can be used as reference standard in future.
