HPLC analytical method

Use of herbal medicines is increasing day by day. Herbal medicine has become popular form of healthcare. The consumption of plant based medicines and other botanicals in the west have increased manifold in recent years. Application of modern scientific knowledge coupled with sensitive analytical technique is important for the quality evaluation and standardization of polyherbal formulations. Mucuna pruriens, an important medicinal plant with wide medicinal properties, is frequently used in a large number of traditional herbal preparations. The present study deals with development and validation of RP-HPLC method for the quantitative estimation of L-DOPA from polyherbal formulations. The method involves Chromatographic separation was performed with SHIMADZU HPLC (Model no. LC- 20 AD) equipped with isocratic pump and manual injector (20μl). Spinchrom chromatographic software was used for data acquisition. RP- C18 (250 mm X 4.6 mm X 5 micron) column was used for analysis. Mobile phase comprising of methanol and water in ratio of 20:80 v/v was filtered through 0.45 micron in membrane filter (Millipore) and degassed by sonication; flow rate of 1ml/min was maintained throughout the run. Column effluent was monitored at 280 nm with variable wavelength UV detector. Thus this developed HPLC method could be further used for the determination of L-dopa in the polyherbal formulations.