Preparation of Saussurea costus Traditional Oil and Investigation of Different Parameters for Standardization

Document Type : Original paper

Authors

1 Department of Traditional Pharmacy, School of Traditional Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

2 School of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.

3 Medicinal Plants Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

4 Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background and objective: Medicinal oils are one of the most common and special dosage forms in oral and topical therapies of Persian medicine (PM). The oil of Saussurea costus (bitter qust) root is prominent topical oil with different applications in PM. In this study, the oil of bitter qust was prepared according to ancient Persian medical texts. Methods: To prepare traditional qust oil, 100 g of the root was soaked in 600 mL aqueous ethanol 25% overnight. The supernatant was then filtered and boiled in 800 g sesame oil until all water was evaporated. The essential oil of the root and volatile components of its traditional oil were extracted using hydro-distillation method in a Clevenger-type apparatus and were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. Total phenolics, flavonoids, tannins and polysaccharides were determined by spectrophotometric methods to evaluate the chemical parameters of traditional bitter qust oil.  Results: The content of volatile compounds in both investigated samples was determined (0.5% and 0.1% (v/w), respectively). Dehydrocostus lactone and 1, 3-cyclooctadiene were two similar main compounds in the both analyzed samples. Total phenolics (788.290±0.61 mg/L gallic acid equivalent (GAE)), flavonoids (303.2±2.52 mg/L catechin equivalent (CE)), tannins (23.97±0.52 mg/L GAE) and polysaccharides (9.240±0.13 mg/L dextrose equivalent (DE)) contents were determined. Conclusion: According to the obtained data, dehydrocostus lactone could be used for determination and evaluation of traditional bitter qust   oil. 

Keywords

Main Subjects


[1] Hamedi A, Zarshenas MM, Sohrabpour M,  Zargaran A. Herbal medicinal oils in traditional Persian medicine. Pharm Biol. 2013; 51(9): 1208-1218.
[2] Zargaran A, Faridi P, Daneshamouz S, Borhani-Haghighi A, Azadi A,  Hashempur MH. Renovation and standardization of a historical pharmaceutical formulation from Persian medicine: chamomile oil. Trad Integr Med. 2016; 1(3): 108-114.
[3] Zarshenas MM, Zargaran A, Blaschke M. Convenient, traditional and alternative therapies for cardiovascular disorders. Curr Pharm Des. 2017; 23(7): 1112-1118.
[4] Nikaein F, Zargaran A,  Mehdizadeh A. Rhazes’ concepts and manuscripts on nutrition in treatment and health care. Anc Sci Life. 2012; 31(4): 160-163.
[5] Aghili Shirazi S. Makhzan Al-adviyah (the Storehouse of medicaments). Tehran: Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 2009.
[6] Zargaran A, Borhani-Haghighi A, Faridi P, Daneshamouz S, Kordafshari G,  Mohagheghzadeh A. Potential effect and mechanism of action of topical chamomile (Matricaria chammomila L.) oil on migraine headache: a medical hypothesis. Med Hypotheses. 2014; 83(5): 566-569.
[7] Avicenna. The canon of medicine. Beirut: Alaalami Beirut Library Press, 2005.
[8] Aghili Shirazi S. Qarabadin-e-kabir. Tehran: Mahmoudi Press, 1970.
[9] Mikaili P, Shayegh J, Sarahroodi S, Sharifi M. Pharmacological properties of herbal oil extracts used in Iranian traditional medicine. Adv Environ Biol. 2012; 6(1): 153-158.
[10] Abolhassanzadeh Z, Aflaki E, Yousefi G,  Mohagheghzadeh A. Randomized clinical trial of peganum oil for knee osteoarthritis. J Evid Based Complement Altern Med. 2015; 20(2): 126-131.
[11] Zarshenas MM, Mahmoodian R, Moein M. Colorimetric determination of flavonoids in Citrus medica peel traditional medicinal oil. Int J Pharmacogn Phytochem Res. 2015; 7(4): 696-700.
[12] Wei H, Yan LH, Feng WH, Ma GX, Peng Y, Wang ZM,  Xiao PG. Research progress on active ingredients and pharmacologic properties of saussurea lappa. Curr Opin Complement Alternat Med. 2014; 1(1): 1-7.
[13] Zahara K, Tabassum S, Sabir S, Arshad M, Qureshi R, Amjad MS,  Chaudhari SK. A review of therapeutic potential of Saussurea lappa an endangered plant from Himalaya. Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2014; 7(S1): 60-69.
[14] Pandey MM, Rastogi S, Rawat AK. Saussurea costus: botanical, chemical and pharmacological review of an ayurvedic medicinal plant. J Ethnopharmacol. 2007; 110(3): 379-390.
[15] Khan MA, Alam A, Husain S, Ahmed S, Nazamuddin M,  Ahmed Z. Qust (Saussurea lappa Clarke) - a potent herb of Unani medicine: A review. Int J Curr Pharm Res. 2013; 5(4): 1-4.
[16] Upton R, Graff A, Jolliffe G, Länger R,  Williamson E. American herbal pharmacopoeia: botanical pharmacognosy-microscopic characterization of botanical medicines. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2016.
[17] Manayi A, Saeidnia S, Shekarchi M, Hadjiakhoondi A, Shams Ardekani M,  Khanavi M. Comparative study of the essential oil and hydrolate composition of Lythrum salicaria L. obtained by hydro-distillation and microwave distillation methods. Res J Pharmacogn. 2014; 1(2): 33-38.
[18] Manayi A, Khanavi M, Saeidnia S, Azizi E, Mahmoodpour MR, Vafi F, Malmir M, Siavashi F,  Hadjiakhoondi A. Biological activity and microscopic characterization of Lythrum salicaria L. Daru J Pharm Sci. 2013; 21(1): 61.
[19] Vazirian M, Dianat S, Manayi A, Ziari R, Mousazadeh A, Habibi E, Saeidnia S,  Amanzadeh Y. Anti-inflammatory effect, total polysaccharide, total phenolics content and antioxidant activity of the aqueous extract of three basidiomycetes. Res J Pharmacogn. 2014; 1(1): 15-21.
[20] Saeidnia S, Nikan M, Mirnezami T, Gohari AR, Manayi A. Micromorphological characterizations and phytochemicals contents of some Phlomis species from Iran. Int J Pharm Pharm Sci. 2015; 8(1): 157-161.
[21] Liu ZL, He Q, Chu SS, Wang CF, Du SS, Deng ZW. Essential oil composition and larvicidal activity of Saussurea lappa roots against the mosquito Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae). Parasitol Res. 2012; 110(6): 2125-2130.
[22] Picman AK. Biological activities of sesquiterpene lactones. Biochem Syst Ecol. 1986; 14(3): 255-281.
[23] Rao Vadaparthi PR, Kumar K, Sarma VU, Hussain QA, Babu KS. Estimation of Costunolide and dehydrocostus lactone in Saussurea lappa and its polyherbal formulations followed by their stability studies using HPLC-DAD. Pharmacogn Mag. 2015; 11(41): 180-190.
[24] De Kraker JW, Franssen MC, de Groot A, Shibata T, Bouwmeester HJ. Germacrenes from fresh costus roots. Phytochemistry. 2001; 58(3): 481-487.