A team of researchers from the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute of have won the Dr. P. D. Sethi Award-2010 for their work in analysis of herbs using High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography.
The work was done on an Indian medicinal plant Centella asiatica, commonly known as “Indian Pennywort” (Kodangan in Malayalam). The study helped to detect elite types from 60 varieties of the plant collected from South India and Andaman Islands.
The study showed that out of the sixty types there are seven elite varieties that contain more than one per cent asiaticoside, the most important bioactive compound of the plant that promote growth of blood capillaries. These can be cultivated for use in traditional medicine and also in pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical industries.
The researchers-- J. Anil John, Mrs. S. R. Rajani Kurup, B. Sabulal, P. J. Mathew, Mr. M. T. Thomas and Mathew Dan; said that their findings could help to reduce uncontrolled collection of the plant from the wild which could lead to complete elimination of certain varieties.
Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow and Hamdard University, New Delhi won the second and third position respectively in the national level selection of winners.
