Pharmacognostic Standardization of Stem of Cissus vitiginea L.: A Traditional Siddha Drug

Background

The present study deals with the detailed pharmacognostic investigation of Sidhha single drug, the stem of Cissus vitiginea L. It is a climber that belongs to the family ‘Vitaceae’ with a pantropical distribution throughout India and Sri Lanka. In dried form, identification of the specific plant is difficult at present due to the lack of authentic pharmacognostic data related to this specific plant part.

Materials and Methods

In order to prevent the adulteration of medicinal components, the stem of C. vitiginea was subjected to different pharmacognostic studies, physicochemical analysis, FT-IR and HPTLC fingerprinting.

Results and Discussion

In the microscopical studies, the unique and elaborated anatomical structure is detailed with evidence of powder microscopic characters like trichomes, elongated fibres, raphide sacs, acicular crystals and different arrangements like xylem vessels with perforation plates observed. The results from the HPTLC fingerprint scanned at wavelengths 254 nm, 366 nm, and 575 nm for alcohol extract of stem of C. vitiginea L. confirmed the presence of different phytoconstituents revealed by the FT-IR analysis.

Conclusion

All the pharmacognostic characters and physicochemical parameters of stem of C. vitiginea L. could be useful in the identification and standardization of a crude drug.