QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF SIX LIQUID HERBAL PREPARATIONS MARKETED IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA
Onyegbule FA1, 2, Umeokoli BO1*, Anyama KK1, Anasi H1, Eze PM3, Okafor UG1
1 Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria
2 Department of Pharmacognosy and Traditional Medicine, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria
3 Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria
Afr. J Pharm Res Dev; Volume 9(1): 96-101; June/July 2017
ABSTRACT
Acute toxicity and microbiological evaluations were carried out to assess the quality of six different herbal medicinal products in Nigerian market. Also, HPLC-DAD analysis of the herbal preparations was carried out to identify the phyto-compounds. Although all the products here found to be non-toxic, only three of the six herbal preparations passed the acceptance criteria for microbiological quality. The HPLC screening of the herbal preparations revealed the presence of similar phyto-constituents occurring in most of the products. The results of this study indicate that some herbal medicinal products sold in open markets across Nigeria do not meet specifications as they contain microbial loads above recommended levels for herbal products for oral administration.
KEYWORDS: Quality assessment, herbal preparations, acute toxicity, microbiological evaluation, HPLC analysis