فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

The dried roots and rhizomes of various Rheum spp (R. officinale Baill, R. palmatum L., R. tanguticum Maxim, R. undulatum L, R. emodi Wall. Ex Mesin. etc.) of Polygonaceae family are collectively known as Rhubarb. It is one of the popular herbs used in Chinese medicinal system. Rhubarb (Da-Huang) is not only used as purgative drug in Chinese pharmacopoeia since ancient time, but also well-documented in Korean and Japanese ethnomedical preparations for its various applications. The current research works on Rhubarb elucidated the various pharmacological activities including anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-infammatory, hepatoprotective, gastrointestinal regulating, cardiovascular protecting etc. Some hydroxy anthraquinonoids viz., aloe - emodin, emodin, physcion, rhein, chrysophanol and their glycosides are the mainly responsible for the versatile bio-activities of rhubarb. In fact, these constituents are referred as the ‘taxonomic markers’ for the respective plants. In this regard, multidisciplinary approach for rapid and simultaneous phytochemical analysis and biological screening of these plants should be adopted. Several extraction and analytical (chromatographic as well as electrochemical) techniques are reported in literature for the separation, identification and estimation of these plant secondary metabolites. Some of these methods may provide novel approach for the quality assessment of this widespread herbal drug. In this review article, some recent reports on various qualitative and quantitative methods for detection and estimation of rhubarb anthraquinonoids are summarized which may provide a novel pathway for the study of these active quality markers in this traditional Chinese medicine.