STANDARDIZATION, QUALITY CONTROL AND ANTIMICROBIAL STUDY OF ARKA TAILA: AN AYURVEDA FORMULATION

Herbal medicines have a huge therapeutic history for a long period of time and still serving many more health requirements in the worldwide. Although there is a still very huge challenge in its quality control and quality assurance; because of the high variability of chemical compounds present in it. Herbal drugs, singularly and in combinations, contain numerous complex matrices in which not a single active constituent is responsible for the overall efficacy. This creates a challenge in establishing quality control standards and standardization of finished herbal drugs. Many drugs in Ayurveda describe regarding treatment of vicharchika (Atopic dermatitis). Arka taila is one of them. In this study Arka taila was subjected to study organoleptic analysis, phytochemical analysis, and qualitative analysis to detect the presence of various functional groups, and thin layer chromatography (TLC) examination by optimizing the solvent systems. The investigation revealed the density, Refractive index, Saponification value, Rancidity, Total fatty matter and Iodine value mainly and also subjected to in vitro antibacterial assay against human pathogens MTCC No.39-Klebsiella aerogenes, MTCC No.10239Escherichia coli, MTCC No.1034Pseudomonas aeruginosa, MTCC No.6908Staphylococcus aureus by Mueller hinton agar well diffusion method. The results of this study suggest that Arka taila can be used as an antibacterial agent against infections caused by Klebsiella aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus.