PHARMACOGNOSTIC SPECIFICATION AND RUTIN CONTENT OF SOPHORA JAPONICA FLOWERING BUD

Abstract

Sophora japonica L. (Fabaceae) has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of hemostatic and hemorrhoids. This study aimed to extablish the pharmacognostic specification and rutin content of S. japonica flowering bud in Thailand. Macroscopic and microscopic evaluation of S. japonica flowering bud were demonstrated. Physico-chemical parameters including water content, loss on drying, total ash and acid-insoluble ash should be less than 7.2, 7.0, 7.4 and 1.2 % of dry weight respectively. The ethanol-extractive and water-extractive should be more than 10.6, 25.7 % by dry weight respectively. Rutin in S. japonica flowering bud was extracted in 80% ethanol by Soxhlet apparatus. For quantitative analysis of rutin, TLC densitometry using TLC silica gel plates as stationary phase, ethyl acetate:ethanol:water:acetic acid:formic acid (5:1:3:1:1) as mobile phase. TLC image photographed was analyzed by TLC ImageJ software. The method validity of TLC–densitometry and TLC image analysis were shown that the calibration range were polynomial with 0.3–0.9 µg/spot (R2 = 0.9992). The accuracy was 94.1–108.9% and 95.2–109.6 %recovery. The repeatability was 2.0–4.2 and 1.1–6.2%RSD. The intermediate precision was 3.6–15.6 and 4.3-8.6%RSD. LOD and LOQ were 0.02, 0.024 and 0.06, 0.07 µg/spot. The robustness was 8.2 and 1.3%RSD, respectively. The rutin content of S. japonica flowering bud was determined using TLC-densitometry and TLC image analysis were 16.09±4.00 and 14.73±3.58 % by dry weight, respectively. This study could be used for standardization of S. japonica flowering bud in Thailand.