Effect of shodhana process on quantity of phytoconstituents of Semecarpus anacardium Linn

Abstract

Nuts of Semecarpus anacardium Linn. are used in the Ayurveda and Siddha systems of medicine, with various therapeutic properties. They are always associated with several side effects, if used unpurified. Many of the traditional books on Ayurveda have described various methods of purification for plants containing toxic materials. Quantitative estimation of active constituents in the herbal drug is an important step in the evaluation of herbal drugs and formulation. There are lots of effects of the Shodhana process on quantity of the phytoconstituent and also on the pharmacological action of the Semecarpus anacardium Linn. Semecarpus anacardium contains phenolic compounds, flavonoids and carbohydrate as a major phytoconstituents. There is not any significant change in the amount of total flavonoids content & total carbohydrate content in the Semecarpus anacardium due to the Shodhana process but there is a drastically change in the concentration of total phenolic content due to the Shodhana process.