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AN INTERACTIVE SEMINAR

ON ISABGOL

AN INTERACTIVE SEMINAR

ON ISABGOL

Presented By

SIDDHARTH KUMAR

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ISABGOLSynonyms : 1. Isapgol 2. Ispaghula 3. Blond psyllium 4. Spogel seed 5. Indian Plantage seeds

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BIOLOGICAL SOURCE

Isabgol is obtained from dried seeds of Plantago ovata belonging to family Plantaginaceae . This species was first reported by Peter Forsskål .

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Plantago (Psyllium)

This genus Planatgo belongs to family Plantaginaceae . Its species such as

1. Plantago ovata 2. Plantago afra 3. Planatgo indica are used medicinally and listed in US

National Formulary under common name Psyllium .

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Plantago ovata

This species of genera Plantago is biological source of Isabgol and was first of all reported by Peter Forskal .

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Peter Forskal ( 1732 - 1763 )

Peter Forskal in Snap :

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Plantago ovata( Some pics to be

seen )

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GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

The plant is cultivated largely in 1. Gujarat 2. Punjab3. South Rajasthan 4. Maharashtra ( Near Pune)About 30 thousand hectares of area is

said to be under cultivation for this drug.

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LITERARY SOURCEThe BP (British pharmacopoeia) lists

this under the name “ISPAGHULA HUSK” while US National Formulary lists this under the name “PLANATGO SEEDS” along with other species of Planatgo ( Plantago afra and Planatgo indica )

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CULTIVATION AND COLLECTION

It is a rabi crop and needs well drained loamy soil , cool and dry weather .

Heavy rains and cloudy weather at maturity damages yield marginally .

The drug is cultivated in month of November and about 6 to 12 kg seeds/ hectare are needed .

Irrigation is done 7 to 8 times at an interaval of 8 to 10 days . Ammonium Sulphate is found be satisfactory fertilizer . The crop is harvested in month of March/ April . It is collected by cutting the plant just above the ground ,

converting them to sheaves and drying . Thrashing is done and the thrashed material is winnowed and

seived to maintain quality .

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Macroscopic Character• Colour : Pinkish – grey or Brown • Odour : Odourless • Taste : Mucilagenous , bland • Size : 2 to 3 mm in length and

1 to 1.75 mm in width• Shape : Ovate cymbiform or Boat

shaped and outline is ovate

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EXTRA FEATURES Seeds are hard , transparent and

smooth with grey or reddish brown oval spot in the centre of the convex surface .

Concave surface contains the hilum covered with thin membrane having two perforations .

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CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS Isapgol husk and seeds contains mucilage which is present in the

epidermis of seed . It yields two polysaccharides one soluble in cold water and other soluble in hot water . ( Laidlaw and Percival . 1949 and 1950) .

Chemically it consists of Pentosan and Aldobiuronic acid .

On hydrolysis it yields 1. Xylose 2. Arabinose 3. Galacturonic acid 4. Rhamnose

Fixed oils and proteins are other important constituents of the drug .

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CHEMICAL TESTS Being mucilage chemically , It

gives pink colour with ruthenium red .

Swelling factor is supposed to be criterion for purity . For seeds it is 10.25 to 13.25 and for husk it is 90 .

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SWELLING FACTORIt is defined as the quantitative swelling

due to mucilage . It is determined by putting 1 g of the drug in the measuring cylinder (25 ml capacity) in 20 ml water with occasional shaking . The volume occupied by the seeds after 24 hours is measured.

( Skyrme and wallis , 1936)

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USESUSES These are used as demulscents, laxative

and emollent . In the treatment of chronic constipation ,

amoebic and baccilay dysentry . It is used to assist smooth solid fecal mass

passage . It is used in the preparation of Tablets and

as stablizer in icecraem industry . Crushed seeds are used in the form of

poultice for rheumatic pain .

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ISAPGOL HUSK Isapgol seeds are processed too take out seed coats , commercially

known as husk which makes about 25 to 27 % of the seeds . The seeds are thoroughly dried and sieved to get rid of foreign

organic matter . Seeds are crushed in flat stone grinder by passing several times

through them so as to remove coatings completely . The crushed material is tehn winnowed to separate the kernels and

husk . Husk is sieved to get different grades and sizes . It consists of the epidermis and its adjacent layers removed from the

dried seeds of Plantago ovata . Morphologically , it is in the form of of pale buff ovate flakes with

more or less lanceolate shape . The pieces are 1 to 2 mm in size .

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COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE

Isapgol husk is preferred over seeds as the husk contains more mucilage and seeds are said to be irritant as comapred to husk .

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ADULTERANTSThe Isapgol seeds are adulterated

with the seeds of plant Plantago lanceolata which are oblong , elliptical in shape and yellowish- brown in colour. The sweeling factor is about 5 .

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SUBSTITUTES

Planatago asiatica Linn found in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu is used as its substitute.

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REFERENCES• ‘PHARMACOGNOSY’ by S B GOKHALE ,

C K KOKATE and A P PUROHIT • ‘Trease and Evans PHARAMCOOGNOSY’

by W C Evans • ‘Textbook of PHARMACOGNOSY’ by T E

Wallis • Medline plus • United State Department Of Agriculture • Google

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THANK YOU

• A presentation by SIDDHARTH KUMAR