B.H. More

There is a growing demand for herbal cosmetics in the world market and they are invaluable gifts of nature. Therefore, the basic intention of the present study was to design a proper formulation contain the flower extract of Butea monosperma (FEBM) with improved physical parameter. To accomplish this intention the herbal gel was prepared and subjected to evaluation of the various parameters. The cosmetic gel formulation was designed by using ethanolic extract of FEBM in varied concentration (0.5, 1 and 1.5%) using carbapol 940 as gelling agent and evaluated for various parameters. The study was also undertaken to evaluate the stability of gels. The prepared gels were evaluated for various physicochemical parameters such as physical observation, homogeneity, pH determination, viscosity, spreadability, extrudability, drug content, rate of drug permeability, stability as per ICH guidelines and HPTLC fingerprint profiles. All developed gels showed good homogeneity with absence of lumps. All gels were found to be stable with respective to their pH, viscosity and drug content. The extrudability and spreadability were also found to be less variant after stability study. The gels of Butea monosperma are radically permeable from skin of rats as demonstrate by the in-vitro permeation study. However, further preclinical studies of gel need to evaluate further confirming the reported biological activities. There is also need to evaluate effects especially in human phase, would be beneficial to assess its usefulness more exactly.

In traditional medicine, there are many natural crude drugs that have the potential to treat many disease and disorders, one of them is Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub (Syn. Butea frondosa; Family Fabaceae) popularly known as 'palas', and commonly known as ‘Flame of forest’. Butea monosperma is a tree of tropical and subtropical climate found throughout the drier parts of India, often gregarious in forests, open grasslands and wastelands. It grows on a wide variety of soils including shallow, gravelly sites, black cotton soil, clay loams, and even saline or waterlogged soils. It is an erect, medium sized tree of 12-15 m high, with a crooked trunk and irregular branches. There are various species of Butea monosperma available over the world. The leaves 3 foliate, large and stipulate. Number of constituents belonging to imides, lactones, flavonoids, sterols, and alkaloids has been reported from various species of Butea. Butea monosperma is considered as a good source for products such as fodder, fuel, fibre, timber, gum or resin, dyestuff and traditionally in number of ailments. Pharmacologically Butea monosperma has been reported for various activities such as anthelmintic, anticonceptive, anticonvulsive, antidiabetic, antidiarrhoeal, antiestrogenic and antifertility, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antifungal, antibacterial, antistress, chemopreventive, haemaggultinating, hepatoprotective, radical scavenging, thyroid inhibitory, antiperoxidative and hypoglycemic effects and wound healing activities. The present review discusses the morphology, ethanobotany, phytochemical constituents, and traditional uses of each part of plants as well products of plant and pharmacological activities of each part of plant in details.