Ayurvedic Drug Murva: Study of HPTLC and Antipyretic

Ayurveda is an indigenous ethnic medical system in popular practice in the Indian subcontinent since the pre-biblical era. The system¿s core strength is its holistic approach to health and disease using natural remedies derived from medicinal plants and minerals. Murva is a Sanskrit word referring to a woody vine from the Apocynaceae family of flowering plants. Murva is used in the treatment various diseases such as intermittent fever, pain, etc., including hyperglycemia. The genus Wattakaka Hasskar belongs to the family Asclepiadaceae and is represented by one species in South India, namely Wattakaka volubilis (L.f.) Stapf. W. volubilis is distributed in almost all parts of India. Identification of active constituents in the extract of herbal drugs is carried out by many methods. High-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) is one of the sophisticated instrumental techniques for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the herbal drugs, is widely used for resolve the various constituents present in the extract into individual compounds as distinct bands. Herbal antipyretic agents are favoured over the chemical ones for their compatibility to the human physiological system.