STANDARDIZATION OF KAMELA POWDER (MALLOTUS PHILIPPINENSIS): AN IMPORTANT HERBAL UNANI DRUG

Sawood Ahmad*, Ghufran Ahmad and Mokarram Ali

ABSTRACT

Kamela (Mallotus philippinensis) belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae. It is also known as Monkey Face tree. It is a prime drug of Unani Medicine commonly used in the treatment as an anthelmintic, purgative, Tapeworm, Ringworm, Various skin problems and colicky pain, urinary and menstrual disorders etc. Due to natural variations a number of natural products have significantly different biological activity and varied clinical efficacy. Therefore, it becomes essential to standardize the herbal drugs to ensure their identity, quality and purity so as to ascertain their therapeutic efficacy. In the present study an attempt has been made to determine the physicochemical characters helpful in identification, standardization and quality control of Kamela. It includes the parameters used in National Unani Pharmacopeia i.e. Total Ash values, Acid insoluble ash, Water soluble ash, successive extractive values and moisture content. Qualitative analysis and Chromatographic study (TLC) were also performed.

Keywords: Standardization, Kamela (Mallotus philippinensis), Quality analysis, TLC.