RSUSSH 2020

IN20-166 Chromatographic Fingerprinting and Physicochemical Characteristics of Kaff Maryam (Anastatica hierochuntica L.)

Presenter: Nanthaphong Khamthong
Rangsit University, Thailand

Abstract

          This research involved the study on the TLC fingerprinting and physicochemical characteristics of Kaff Maryam (Anastatica hierochuntica L.). The plant materials were obtained from localities in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. The physicochemical studies covering foreign matter, moisture content, water content, total ash content, acid-insoluble ash content, extractive value, and volatile oil content were conducted based on WHO guidelines. From the results, sand and plastic debris, accounting for 0.16 ± 0.18% w/w, were the main foreign matters found from the raw materials. The moisture content of the powdered samples was 5.29 ± 0.17% w/w, which did not exceed the standard limit of 10%. For the ash contents, it was found that the total ash and acid-insoluble ash contents were 6.96 ± 0.15 and 0.45 ± 0.13% w/w, respectively. The water extract quantity (1.90 ± 0.18% w/w) was greater than that of the ethanol extract (0.83 ± 0.02% w/w), while the colorless volatile oil was obtained with a minute amount (0.67 ± 0.40% v/w) upon hydrodistillation. The TLC fingerprinting of the methanol extracts using taxifolin as a chemical marker led to the detection of 16 spots under ultraviolet light as well as after visualization with p-anisaldehyde. The hRf values of those 16 spots were 16, 19, 23, 28, 39, 43, 50, 51, 54, 57, 60, 62, 65, 68, 70, and 73, which the hRf of 51 indicated the presence of taxifolin. The generated information from this study would be useful in the further development of a suitable specification of Kaff Maryam.

Keywords: Kaff Maryam; Anastatica hierochuntica; Chromatographic Fingerprinting; Physicochemical characteristics

Citation format:

Khamthong, N., Hayeema, T., Thewarit, K., Meena, N., Sakayae, N., Phonkrathok, S., & Madaka, F.. (2020). Chromatographic Fingerprinting and Physicochemical Characteristics of Kaff Maryam (Anastatica hierochuntica L.). Proceeding in RSU International Research Conference, May 1, 2020. Pathum Thani, Thailand.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Asst. Prof. Dr. Thanet Sophonnithiprasert (Chairperson)

This is a useful research that may be used to standardize raw materials from Kaff Maryam. I have some questions about your work.

- Why this work use Taxifolin as indicator for plant Kaff Maryam? Can Taxifolin be found as a main component in other plants?

- As TLC fingerprint mentioned in slide no.5, How would you identify the plant Kaff Maryam sample from each location? since the Kaff Maryam sample from Mecca showed different results and Taxifolin may not be the main component in this sample, therefore the plant sample from Mecca maybe not Kaff Maryam.

Thank you in advance for your response.

Nanthaphong Khamthong (Presenter)

Dear Chairperson,

Thank you for your questions and comments.

- Based on the Scifinder database, taxifolin (or dihydroquercitin) is a main chemical component of Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi) and commonly found in many other plants. As a result, it is not quite right to state that taxifolin could be an indicator component of Kaff Maryam as shown in the earlier version of our manuscript. Suggested by a reviewer, then some modifications to that statement were made, and it was appeared as "taxifolin could be used as a chemical marker for quality control of Kaff Maryam".

- All the collected plants were identified by a folk medicine doctor in Mueang Yala District of Yala Province in southern Thailand.

- The weak quenching of taxifolin in the sample 2 (Mecca) indicated the low amount of taxifolin present in the extract. This would be due to plant age that could influence a variation in the quantity of taxifolin as previously demonstrated in the case of English ivy (Hedera helix L.), of which a mature leaf accumulated greater levels of quercetin than a juvenile one. Additionally, the whole plant of Kaff Maryam collected from Mecca was greenish-brown in color, and its size was much smaller than those collected from Cairo and Amman. From these morphological data, we assumed that Kaff Maryam collected from Mecca was younger than the other twos. Thus, further investigation of Kaff Maryam under controlled conditions concerning the influence of plant age and other environmental factors should be carried out.

Thank you.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Thanet Sophonnithiprasert (Chairperson)

Thank you for your response.

Laksana Charoenchai (Participant)

Interesting study. I would like to know which part of this plant that you studied with TLC.

Can this Kaff Maryam found in Thailand? 

Nanthaphong Khamthong (Presenter)

Dear Dr.Charoenchai,

Thank you for your questions.

- In TLC fingerprinting, the whole plants of Kaff Maryam were employed to prepare its methanol extract. As the dried mature plants of Kaff Maryam was small and the branches as well as leaves curled inward to form a tight ball, it is quite difficult to thoroughly separate each plant part from one another. We thus used the whole plant. However, there has been a report on the GC-MS analyses of the extracts from Kaff Mayam’s stem, seed, and leaf in the literature.

- Actually, Kaff Maryam is a plant native to Arab countries and grows in the Sahara-Arabian deserts. To the best of our knowledge, there has no been an account of the existence of Kaff Maryam in Thailand. In contrast to that fact, we have kept investigating this exotic plant since Asian people in Malaysia, Indonesia, and southern provinces of Thailand, including family members of the authors, usually use this herbal plant to promote labor and to ease menstrual pain.