Ayurveda is a traditional Indian medicinal system being serving the public health by using plants and plant products in various ayurvedic formulations. Arishtas are weakly alcoholic ayurvedic formulations prepared by fermenting the decoction of medicinal plants in an air tight sealed vessels. Fermentation of decoction of medicinal plants is brought about by addition of a source of sugar with flowers of Woodfordia fruticosa. The presence of woodfordia flowers is essential to initiate the fermentation process. The present study was designed with the objective to understand the impact of fermentation on the chemical profile of Woodfordia fruticosa by RP-HPLC studies. The decoction of woodfordia flowers was prepared and some quantity of decoction was kept for fermentation in a closed vessel for 45 days. RP-HPLC analysis of pre-fermented and post-fermented decoction was done after filtration and their comparison was made. It was observed that the chromatogram of post fermented W. fruticosa showed comparatively very few peaks as compared to the chromatogram of pre fermented W. fruticosa. This is probably due to the fact that the large molecular weight polyphenolics particularly ellagitannin are hydrolyzed during fermentation and degraded into small molecules of phenolics or phenolic acids. It means there is a quantitative decrease in the concentration of ellagitannin and quantitative increase in concentration of small molecular weight phenolics, ellagic acid and its derivatives during fermentation of W. fruticosa. This change will modify significantly the biological activity of the fermented extracts and the final ayurvedic formulation, particulary fermented biomedicine like arishtas. By controlling each step of the fermentation process, particularly the incubation time, it should be possible to predict the final content and composition of formulation, but also to prevent the degradation of pharmacolgically important phytoconstituents, thus maintaining the therapeutic potential of the final product.
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