HPTLC: A Tool for Determination of Curcumin in Mammalian Samples
Curcumin, an important phytoconstituent obtained from Curcuma longa L. (turmeric) is used traditionally in the treatment of various inflammatory diseases like arthritis, stroke and bowel diseases, etc. Despite its many health benefits, instability of curcumin in plasma is a major issue. The retention of curcumin in plasma must be properly evaluated in order to establish its stability in biological systems. The current study presents an HPTLC method undertaken for detection of curcumin and determination of its stability in plasma and different tissues of rats. The plasma and tissue samples were appropriately processed to render them suitable for HPTLC analysis. The method employed HPTLC glass plates precoated with silica gel 60F254 as the stationary phase. The mobile phase developed consisted of chloroform, methanol and glacial acetic acid which successfully gave distinct bands for curcumin with a Rf value of 0.95. This newly developed HPTLC method was found to be reproducible and accurate in quantifying curcumin in mammalian samples. This method was further utilized to efficiently estimate the time for which curcumin is retained in its native form in mammalian tissues and plasma alike.