EXTRACTION AND SUGAR COMPOSITION OF MUCILAGE IN URGINEA INDICA/DRIMIA INDICA (ROXB) KUNTH HYACINTHACEAE Short Communication BANANI MISRA, SHIVA KAMESHWARI M. N.* Department of Botany, Janana Bharati Campus, Bangalore University Bangalore 560056 Email: mn.shivakameshwari@gmail.com Received: 09 Oct 2015 Revised and Accepted: 19 Dec 2015 ABSTRACT Objective: Urginea indica (U. indica) Kunth. Hyacinthaceae has high mucilage content; the aim of the study is to isolate the mucilage and to analyze the sugar present in mucilage and its Physicochemical properties. Methods: The mucilage of U. indica extracted from the dried powder from bulbs of Urginea indica using Acetone Precipitation method. HPLC analysis has been made to see the presence of sugars in mucilage. The composition of polysaccharide analyzed based on the standard hydrolysis procedure using hydrochloric, sulfuric, and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) at elevated temperature. Results: The percentage yield of mucilage was found to be 4 %. The HPLC analysis revealed the presence of sugar such as Sucrose, Maltose, Fructose and Galactose in mucilage sample among which maltose was found to be higher with 21.84 µg/ml followed by Fructose (1.90 µg/ml), Galactose (2.09 µg/ml) and sucrose (0.82 µg/ml). Conclusion: The present investigation showed that U. indica mucilage has high pharmaceutical significance with the presence of high amount of maltose, which makes it an attractive source of carbohydrate. Keywords: Urginea indica, Mucilage, Sugar, Acetone Precipitation method, HPLC, Maltose © 2016 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) The genus Urginea indica (U. indica) belongs to the family Hyacinthaceae and comprise of about hundred species. Urginea species are found in certain floristic regions of the world. They are distributed in remote and difficult terrains, over the hills on the upper parts, particularly on the slopes. In India, the genus is found in southern and peninsular parts including the coastal belt, northern temperate regions and in the foothills of Himalayas. The bulbs of this plant are important which serve as an excellent source of medicine with pharmaceutical and biocidal applications such as anticancer agent, expectorant, cardiac stimulant, hypertension, dyspepsia and arteriosclerosis [1-3] in treating asthma [4], rheumatism, edema, dropsy, allergies [5], gout and various other ailments [6, 7]. The mucilage and its sugar composition in Astragalus species from Tran have been evaluated [8]. U. indica being the medicinally important plant is gaining immense global importance in view of its multiple uses. Hence, the present investigation is directed towards extracting the mucilage content and identifying the various sugars present in the bulbs of U. indica. Mucilage is a sticky substance used as an adhesive and referred as gummy substance and are obtained from certain plants. The mucilage acts as a membrane thickener and food reserve in the plants [9]. It is a polysaccharide mixture having high molecular weight (20000 and more) [10] commonly found in various organs of many higher plant species [11]. This class of natural product has received much attention since ages as it has great importance in industry and medicine [12, 13]. Due to the high variability in terms of chemical constituents, the mucilage probably assumes a multitude of physiological functions in plants. It is also found in the rhizome, root and seed endosperm, where it acts primarily as energy reserve [14]. Foliar mucilage plays an important role in wound response [15], plant host-pathogen interaction [16] and in water transportation [17]. Therefore, Mucilage is a good candidate to be used as a pharmaceutical excipient. The plant used for the present study has been identified and authenticated by the Department Taxonomist and also using Floras. It has been sent to Botanical survey of India and identified as Urginea indica/Drimia indica (Roxb) kunth. Hyacinthaceae. Plant material for the study was collected from Udupi of Karnataka state, India. The bulbs of U. indica were washed, shade dried, finely powdered and used for further analysis. The Mucilage from the plant was extracted using dried bulb powder by Acetone precipitation method [18]. The mucilage yield was calculated using the formula: Wt. of dry mucilage obtained/Wt. of bulb powder taken ×100 The composition of polysaccharides analyzed was based on the standard hydrolysis procedure using hydrochloric, sulfuric or trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) at elevated temperatures [19]. TFA has been the acid of choice for carbohydrate analysis due to its effectiveness at hydrolyzing glycosidic bonds, without causing extensive destruction to the resulting monosaccharide components and also due to its volatility which minimize its interference with subsequent procedures [20]. The mucilage samples (100 mg) were dissolved in 4M Trifluoro- acetic acid (100 ml), boiled at 100 o C for 10 min and filtered through 0.45 µm syringe filter. Seven standards were used and the injected volume was 25 µl/ml from the master stock of 1 mg/ml. The sugar content in the mucilage was detected using HPLC with thermo Acela 1250, column-Syncronsis Amino 5 µm, 150 mm×4.6 mm and mobile phase of methanol and water in the ratio of 60:40. The RI detector was used having a flow rate of 1 ml/min and injection volume of 5 µl. The temperature was maintained at 35 o The mucilage appears as a calcium salt in mucilage cells. Calcium has a significant effect on water holding capacity and other biophysical C. The sugars were released by Acid hydrolysis using Trifluoroacetic acid digestion. Mucilage refers to the viscous, clear liquid within the parenchyma cells. It is closely allied to gums and form slippery aqueous colloidal dispersions. Mucilage is commonly used adjuvant in pharmaceutical preparations. Plant mucilage is important polysaccharides with wide range of application. Mucilage is a complex polysaccharide and exhibits the osmotic property of retaining water strongly [21]. The mucilage is present only in the Golgi apparatus, and the mucilage is synthesized probably in it [22]. These polysaccharides swell when dissolved in water. Urginea contains a lots of mucilage in the bulbs of idioblast cells, leaves, ovary wall cells because of these properties the plant can withstand high temperature, water storage and in poor soil. International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences ISSN- 0975-1491 Vol 8, Issue 2, 2016