Quantification of puerarin and daidzein and in vitro pharmacological evaluation of Pueraria tuberosa (Willd.) DC.: An ethnopharmacological approach

Pueraria tuberosa (Willd.) DC. commonly known as Vidarikand, is an indigenous medicinal plant commonly found in Southeast Asia and mainly found in Uttarakhand, Odisha, Assam and Meghalaya states of India. The tuber of the plant is used in ethnomedicine as well as in traditional Ayurvedic systems of medicine for treating various ailments. Puerarin and daidzein, the important isoflavons are the constituents besides several other phytochemicals in the tuber. Simultaneous quantification of two isoflavones, puerarin and daidzein in P. tuberosa was achieved through high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) using mobile phase chloroform:methanol (8:2). Puerarin and daidzein were separated at the R-f value of 0.132 (+/- 0.002) and 0.605 (+/- 0.002), respectively and scanned at lambda(max) 340 nm. Calibration analysis of puerarin and daidzein were performed within the range of 2-12 mu g/band. The limit of detection and limit of quantification for puerarin were 0.001237 and 0.003747 and that of daidzein were 0.0012 and 0.0037, respectively. Quantity of puerarin and daidzein were found to be 0.701% +/- 0.003 (7.01 mg/g) and 0.482% +/- 0.004 (4.82 mg/g), respectively. Significant amount of phenolics (0.016% +/- 0.00), total flavonoids (0.034 % +/- 0.00), total tannins (0.4% +/- 0.001), total starch (0.33% +/- 0.006) and total sugar content (0.22% +/- 0.01) were observed. The in vitro antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant analysis were also performed to predict/evaluate the therapeutic potential of the species. The IC 50 values were determined and found to be 158.256 mu g/ml +/- 0.223 for antidiabetic activity, 99.58 mu g/ml +/- 0.582 for anti-inflammatory activity and 11.561 +/- 0.436 for antioxidant activity. The significance of the findings have been discussed in light of the therapeutic properties of the compounds.

Automated summary

Pueraria tuberosa is a medicinal plant commonly found in Southeast Asia, mainly in India. It is used in traditional medicine for various ailments and contains high levels of isoflavones and other phytochemicals. The study found that it has significant antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities.