ISSN: 2576-4772
Authors: Nowruzi N1, Ayoubi R2*, Vedi FS3 and Lutfi S4
Introduction: Barberry is one of the important medicinal, edible and export plants of Afghanistan. The fruit of this plant contains a large amount of organic acids, phenolic substances, flavonoids and vitamins and has a special place in the traditional medicine of country. Badakhshan province is one of the major barberry producing provinces in Afghanistan. Objective: The purpose of this study is to standardize and determine the amount of tartaric acid, phenolic and flavonoid content in barberry fruit (BBFs22) collected from Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. Methodology: BBFs22 was collected from the sellers of medicinal plants located in Kabul and kept in the freezer until the measurement and evaluation. After identification and pharmacognostic evaluation of BBFs22 the amount of tartaric acid, phenolic and flavonoid content in the fruit, was determined using UV- Vis spectroscopy. All experiments were repeated three times. Results: The studies conducted based on the available sources showed that the desired sample was Berberis integerrima Bunge. The results obtained from the pharmacognostic evaluation of the fruit indicated that the BBFs22 has 7.48± 0.13% moisture, 9.16± 1.3% foreign matter, 2.11± 0.05% total ash, 0.32± 0.05% acid insoluble ash, 28.15±0.19% water- soluble extractive content, and 23.77±0.97% methanolic extractive value. The result of phytochemistry studies showed that BBFs22 has flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, phenolic substances, saponin and mucilage as its active ingredients. The methanolic extract of BBFs22 had 14.06±0.05 mg (w/w) of tartaric acid, 26.43±1.65 mg (w/w) of phenolics and 3.10±0.04 mg (w/w) of flavonoids. Conclusion: BBFs22 has shown lower values in terms of numerical norms, however, the results obtained from the pharmacognostic evaluation of fruit are consistent with the standard values available in pharmacopoeias. In addition, although different solvents can be used to determine the amount of phenolics, flavonoids and tartaric acid, the results obtained from this study indicated that methanol is a better solvent than water.
Keywords: Barberry; Standardization; Tartaric Acid; Phenolics; Flavonoid Content
