Abstract
Background
G. superba is a valuable Ayurvedic medicinal plant and has high demand in world market for its colchicine content, which is used in Gout.
Objective
The study aims 1) to record the metabolic variations in major bioactive metabolites, colchicine and gloriosine in the natural populations of Gloriosa superba from Western Ghats and adjoining areas in India and 2) to develop HPTLC protocol for the identification of elite chemotypes of species and regulation of quality raw material, extract and finished material.
Method
Simultaneous quantification of colchicine and gloriosine in 22 natural populations through validated HPTLC as per ICH guidelines.
Results
The colchicine and gloriosine were identified at Rf 0.51 ± 0.03 and, 0.41 ± 0.05 and the content varies from 0.021 to 0.86% and, 0.003 to 0.198%. The method was found linear at a concentration range of 0.1 to 0.7 µg/spot, LOD (3.3 σ/S) and LOQ (10 σ/S) was 0.71 and 2.16 µg/spot. The method was precise in concentration range of 100–300 ng/spot, with 98.29% and 101.12% recovery (% RSD) for colchicine and gloriosine. Subsequently, four elite chemotypes were identified based on cluster analysis of metabolite content.
Conclusion
The developed HPTLC method is linear, accurate, precise, and robust for simultaneous quantification of colchicine and gloriosine metabolite(s). Intra-specific metabolic variation was significant among the collected population, leads to identification of four elite chemotypes.
Highlights
Colchicine, an industrially viable metabolite and therefore it is quintessential to develop an economical analytical method to regulate the quality of raw material, extract and finished products.