ISSN (Online) : 2277-4572
Author(s): Manisha Mohapatra, Uday Chand Basak*
Embelin is a biologically active Phytochemical in benzoquinone group found in fruits of Embelia ribes & Embelia tsjeriam-cottam. Since E. ribes is not available in Odisha, E. tsjeriam-cottam is considered as substitute alternate source of Embelin. Embelin elicits diverse ethno-medicinal and pharmacological activities like anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antimicrobial properties and many more. Since fruits have been considered as major source of embelin; roots, stem barks and leaves of E. tsjeriam-cottam are not yet tested and used properly for preparation of medicinal formulations though are having significant ethno-medicinal documentations. This research paper deals with quantitative assessment of embelin present in roots, leaves and stem barks of E. tsjeriam-cottam from Odisha to report usefulness of non-fruit parts for estimation of embelin. Embelin content was assessed through spectrophotometric and HPLC methods of analysis. In case of chloroform extracted samples, embelin content was found to be higher in root parts (2.02%-Spectrophotometric, 0.57%-HPLC) followed by stem bark (1.94%-Spectrophotometric, 0.53%-HPLC) and leaf (1.82%-Spectrophotometric, 0.51%-HPLC). However, in case of methanol extracted samples, embelin content was found to be higher in root parts (1.6%-Spectrophotometric, 0.45%-HPLC) followed by stem bark (1.52%-Spectrophotometric, 0.24%-HPLC) and leaf (1.465%-Spectrophotometric, 0.23%-HPLC). These findings have revealed possible alternative substitute plant part besides fruits as source of embelin, to meet the demand of embelin yield, which will lead to least exploitation of plant species. Though embelin content found in fruit parts is double as compared to non-fruit parts, but it has got a marginable quantity of embelin that can be utilized further.
