Academia Journal of Medicinal Plants 4(8): 001-009, July 2016 DOI: 10.15413/ajmp.2016.0108 ISSN: 2315-7720 ©2016 Academia Publishing Research Paper Physicochemical, Phytochemical and Nutritional values determination of Suaeda fruticosa (Chenopodiaceae) Accepted 20th May, 2016 ABSTRACT A medicinal plant is any plant which, in one or more of its organs, contains substances that can be used for therapeutic purposes or which are precursors for synthesis of useful drugs. Examples of important drugs obtained from plants are digoxin from dried leaves of Digitalis lanata (Family: Scrophulariaceae), quinine and quinidine from the bark of Cinchona species (Family: Rubiaceae). Physicochemical tests on powder and phytochemical tests for determination of secondary metabolites on Suaeda fruticosa dichloromethane extract (SFD) and methanolic extract (SFM) were done. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for the quantitative determination of flavonoids using quercetin, myricetin and kaempferol as standards. Different elements were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) to evaluate the nutritive value of S. fruticosa. Physicochemical tests showed that the values of moisture contents, total ash contents, water insoluble ash, acid insoluble ash, sulphated ash, water soluble extractives and alcohol soluble extractives in S. fruticosa were 2, 74, 34, 9, 20, 46 and 16% respectively. From phytochemical studies, it is estimated that tannins and flavonoids were present in both methanolic and dichloromethane extract of S. fruticosa while saponins and terpenoids were present in methanolic extract and alkaloids and coumarins present in dichloromethane extract. Quantitative determination of flavonoids showed that quercetin, myricetin and Kaempferol present in dichloromethane extract were 19.93, 0.15 and 0.15 mg/ml respectively and in methanolic extract, quercetin and kaempferol was present in quantity of 12.40 and 0.016 mg/ml Seema Abbas, Hammad Saleem, M. Shoaib Ali respectively. Metals like lead (Pb), sodium (Na), potassium (K), nickel (Ni), Gill, Anam Mubashar Bajwa, Ammar Sarwar and copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg) and chromium were present in both M. Ovais Omer extracts. Sodium and potassium were present in higher concentrations and their Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University values in dichloromethane and methanolic extract were 50.6, 68.5, 65.5 and 79.1 of Veterinary And Animal Sciences, Lahore, ppm respectively. Pakistan. *Corresponding author. E-mail: Key words: Suaeda fruticosa, S. fruticosa methanolic extract, S. fruticosa [email protected] dichloromethane extract, high performance liquid chromatography. INTRODUCTION Plants and animal products were the main sources of any plant which, in one or more of its organs, contains drugs for thousands of years and the use of natural substances that can be used for therapeutic purposes or products in the treatment and prevention of diseases is as which are precursors for synthesis of useful drugs”. old as human civilization (De Pasquale, 1984). According For centuries, traditionally medicinal plants were used to World Health Organization (WHO) “A medicinal plant is because of their remedial and defensive abilities; some Academia Journal of Medicinal Plants; Abbas et al. 002 widely used plants were selected for their investigation of shade drying the plant was crushed into powder form. The chemical constituents and biological activities such as anti- powder was then stored in amber color glass bottles inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer in an attempt to establish a scientific basis for their ethno-medical uses (Ojewole, 2005). Extraction Examples of important drugs obtained from plants are digoxin from dried leaves of Digitalis lanata (Family: Powdered plant material was used for extraction. The Scrophulariaceae), quinine and quinidine from the bark of dichloromethane and methanolic extracts were prepared. Cinchona species (Family: Rubiaceae), Vincristine and First, the powder was soaked in dichloromethane for 3 vinblastine from the dried whole plant Catharanthus days with shaking periodically. After maceration it was roseus (Family: Apocynaceae), atropine from dried leaves filtered through muslin cloth and filter paper and then and flowering or fruiting tops of Atropa belladonna concentrated under reduced pressure using a rotary (Family: Solanaceae) and morphine and codeine from the evaporator at 37°C. By using same method the methanolic air dried milky exudates obtained by incising the unripe extract was also prepared. The prepared extracts were capsules of Papaver somniferum (Family: Papaveraceae) weighed and stored in labeled airtight vials in a (Sahu and Shaw, 2009). Chenopodiaceae family comprises refrigerator and named as SFD (S. fruiticosa of 110 genera and 1700 species. These are distributed in dichloromethane extract) and SFM (S. fruiticosa arid to semi-arid saline and agricultural habitats of methanolic extract). temperate and sub-tropical regions. Few genera including Chenopodium, Halosarcia, and Suaeda are distributed in the tropics. Most of the Physicochemical analysis of powdered material Chenopodiaceae species are annuals or sub-shrubs (Kadereit et al., 2003). The English common name for Physicochemical properties that include moisture Suaeda fruticosa is ‘Alkali seepweed’ and Urdu name is contents, extractive values, total ash, water and acid Laani. It is a member of the Chenopodiaceae, which insoluble ash and sulphated ash were analyzed using the belongs to the order: Caryophyllales and Sub-class: United States Pharmacopoeia-National Formulary (2003) Caryophyllidae. It is a halophytic annual herbaceous wild methods. plant, growing in saline soil. All parts of S. fruticosa and its essential oils were reported for ethno-medicinal applications (Benwahhoud et al., 2001; El Shaer, 2010). Moisture content Halophytes are known for their ability to withstand and quench toxic reactive oxygen species (Korabecny et al., China-dish was weighed and then tare 2 g of powdered 2010) since they are equipped with a powerful anti- plant material was weighed in tared china dish. The china- oxidant system that includes enzymatic and non- dish was then put in an oven at 105°C for 30 min for enzymatic components (Ksouri et al., 2009). A substantial drying of plant material. After 30 min it was removed from number of biological and chemical studies were performed the oven and put on a china dish containing dried plant on S. fruticosa (Ullah et al., 2012). material in a desiccator. Digital balance was used to weigh china-dish. Weight of the plant material which was used to measure moisture contents was calculated by subtracting MATERIALS AND METHODS the empty china-dish weight from weight of the china-dish containing dried plant material. Moisture contents were Chemicals calculated using the formula: Dilute Hcl, Sulphuric acid, 95% Ethanol, Potassium Moisture contents = weight of pre-dried plant material - ferricyanide, Ferric chloride, 0.1 N Hcl, olive oil, dilute weight of dried plant material. Ammonia solution, Acetic anhydride, Wagner’s reagent, 10% NaOH, Chloroform, Glacial acetic acid, Methanol, % age of moisture contents was determined at the end by DMSO, Dichloromethane, Nitric acid,quercetin, myricetin multiplying the result of the moisture content with 100. and kaempferol. All the chemicals used were of analytical grade. Total ash Plant material Weight of the empty china dish was noted and in a tared china-dish two gram powder plant material was weighed. The whole plant was collected from kot Addu district Then, this china dish was put in furnace at temperature Muzaffargarh. Plant was spread over newspaper on 675 ± 25°C until carbon free ash was obtained. China-dish shelves for the purpose of shade drying for 30 days. After containing desired form of ash was placed in desiccator to Academia Journal of Medicinal Plants; Abbas et al. 003 cool the contents. The ash contents were weighed. The continuous stirring. The contents were filtered. 25 ml of percentage of total ash was calculated with reference to the filtrate was evaporated to dryness in china dish and sample weight. the residues dried in an oven at 105°C. Then, this china dish was weighed. The alcohol soluble extractives percentage was calculated with reference to weight of Acid insoluble ash sample. The total ash contents obtained from two grams of powdered plant material were boiled in 25 ml dilute HCl Water soluble extractives for 5 min. The boiled material was filtered using ash less filter paper. The soluble plant material was collected as In tared flask, five gram powdered plant material was filtrate. The insoluble material was present on filter paper. weighed and macerated using 100 ml of 95% ethanol. Then, this insoluble plant material was washed with hot Maceration of the sample was done for 24 h in a closed distilled water to ensure that all soluble material was flask with continuous stirring. The contents were filtered removed. The filter paper was dried and ignited in tared and 25 ml of the filtrate evaporated to dryness in china china-dish until carbon free ash was obtained. The china dish and the residue was dried at 105°C in oven and dish was put in the desiccator for cooling. The ash contents weighed. The percentage of water soluble extractives was were weighed and the percentage of acid insoluble ash was calculated with reference to weight of sample. calculated with reference to weight of total ash used in test. Phytochemical analysis of plant extracts Water