A comparative Study of Structural Properties and Antacid activity of some commercial samples of Shauktika bhasma

Backgroud: Shauktika Bhasma is a traditional ayurvedic medicine which is an excellent remedy for a number of stomach disorders, hyper acidity and ulcers. It is prepared from mother pearl by subjecting the powder of mother pearl to traditional ayurvedic processes. To get a worldwide recognition to such supreme ancient medicine, it is necessary to reinvestigate it on the basis of modern analytical techniques.In the present work a comparative study of some commercial samples of Shauktika bhasma is undertaken to understand the current status of this bhasma and to explore its acid neutralization capacity using back titration method. Materials and Methods: Samples from renowned pharmacies are collected and subjected to chemical and structural investigations using analytical techniques like XRD, IR and UV. Back titration method is applied to find acid neutralizing capacity of these bhasma samples. Conclusion:The study reveals that Shauktika bhasma is chemically calcite form of calcium carbonate. Antacid activity of the samples is reported for these samples using simple titration method which is useful to estimate number of moles neutralized for a quick comparison. The antacid activity of the samples is found to be inversely proportional to the crystallite size of the bhasma.