Physicochemical standardisation of the homoeopathic drug Rumex acetosella and its comparison with another homoeopathic drug, Rumex crispus

Authors

Bibaswan Biswas, Drug Standardization Division, Dr. Anjali Chatterjee Regional Research Institute for Homoeopathy, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Kolkata, West Bengal
Nilakshi Dey, Drug Standardization Division, Dr. Anjali Chatterjee Regional Research Institute for Homoeopathy, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Kolkata, West Bengal
G. Kumar, Drug Standardization Division, Dr. Anjali Chatterjee Regional Research Institute for Homoeopathy, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Kolkata, West Bengal
Renu Arya, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, New Delhi
Anil Khurana, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, New Delhi

Keywords

Drug standardisation, Homoeopathy, Physicochemical, Rumex acetosella

Article Type

Original Article

Abstract

Background: Rumex acetosella, a relatively new drug in the homoeopathic system, is traditionally used for treating inflammation, diabetes and gastrointestinal problems, especially diarrhoea. Objective: The aim of this work is to report physicochemical standardisation of the homoeopathic drug, Rumex acetosella. Further, we propose our simple and economical method to differentiate it with a closely related species, Rumex crispus. Materials and Methods: The physicochemical study measuring several parameters was done. The pH of the mother tincture (MT) and the water extract was measured and compared. Furthermore, the chemical composition of the Rumex acetosella MT were compared with taxonomically closely related Rumex crispus MT by thin layer chromatography (TLC). Results: The results show a strong relationship between the extracting solvent's polarity and its extracting power. A simple TLC study shows a strong correlation between two drugs of the same genus, Rumex, but they can be differentiated by their unique spots. Conclusion: Our study not only provides the physicochemical standards for the drug Rumex acetosella but also shows that a simple analytical technique, a manual TLC can easily be used to distinguish two taxonomically close homoeopathic drugs.

Digital Object Identifier

10.4103/ijrh.ijrh_104_19

Publisher

Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd.

How to cite this article

Biswas B, Dey N, Kumar G, Arya R, Khurana A. Physicochemical standardisation of the homoeopathic drug Rumex acetosella and its comparison with another homoeopathic drug, Rumex crispus. Indian J Res Homoeopathy 2021;15:113-122. doi: 10.4103/ijrh.ijrh_104_19