Pharmacognostic studies and thin layer chromatography profile of the aerial parts of Vernonia cinerealess. (Asteraceae)

Abstract

Vernonia cinerea(VC) Less is synonymously known as Cyanthillium cinereum and Vernonia abbreviate belongs to Asteraceae family. Different parts of the plant are extensively used in traditional medicine for treatment of various disease conditions. However, there was no scientific evaluation of the plant’s pharmacognosy and thin layer chromatography (TLC), which necessitate these studies, to bring out characters that will facilitate its proper identification, standardization and, nature of secondary metabolites in aerial parts of the plant. To carry out detailed pharmacognostic studies and TLC evaluation on the aerial parts of Vernonia cinerea. Aerial plant parts of V. cinerea were studied for their organoleptic, macroscopic, microscopic, physicochemical features and bitterness properties, their elemental and nutritional values were evaluated using standard procedures. In the TLC, reagents were used to evaluate presence of various bioactive constituents in the parts studied. Pharmacognostic studies of aerial parts of VC highlighted features that are diagnostic from microscopic characters and their dimensions, different ergastic substances in the chemomicrocopical study. The elemental analysis showed the presence of macro, micro and trace elements. Nutritionally, there are presence of macro molecules such as carbohydrates, protein and fats. All these will serve as criteria to differentiate it from other species in the same and other families. The TLC profile showed spots of different colour shades after spraying with general and specific reagents and, their R_f values determined.  Detailed pharmacognostic studies on the aerial parts of VC showed characters which might be useful to provide information with regard to its identification, standardization and types of phytochemicals present.