Available online www.jocpr.com Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, 2014, 6(9):389-396 Research Article ISSN : 0975-7384 CODEN(USA) : JCPRC5 389 Pharmacognostic specification, mutagenic and antimutagenic properties of Cymbopogon nardus roots in Thailand Pravaree Phuneerub a , Chanida Palanuvej a* and Nijsiri Ruangrungsi a,b a College of Public Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand b Faculty of Pharmacy, Rangsit University, Pathumthani, Thailand ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Cymbopogon nardus Rendel (Family Gramineae) is widely distributed in tropical Asia. Its dried roots have been used in traditional Thai medicine for antipyretics, anti-inflammation, anti-analgesics and anticancer. The objectives of this study were to display the pharmacognostic specification, analyze the chemical constituents of essential oil and investigate the mutagenic and antimutagenic properties of C. nardus dried roots. Total ash, acid-insoluble ash, loss on drying and water content should be not more than 5.82, 3.97 , 8.29 and 8.06 % of dry weight respectively; while volatile oils, ethanol and water soluble extractive values should not be less than 2.96, 4.89 and 8.12 % of dry weight respectively. The major constituents of volatile oil from dried roots of C. nardus analyzed by GC/MS were elemol (22.87%) and alpha-eudesmol (16.09%). The mutagenic testing demonstrated that the ethanol and fractionated water extract of C. nardus roots were no mutagenic to S. typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100. In addition, both ethanol and water extracts of C. nardus roots at 15 mg/plate demonstrated strong antimutagenic effect toward S. typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100. Keywords: Cymbopogon nardus, dried root, quality specification, essential oil analysis, Ames Salmonella assay ____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle (Family Gramineae) is commonly known as citronella grass. The leaf oil of C. nardus is widely used in soap, perfumery, cosmetic and flavouring industries throughout the world [1]. In Ayurveda, C. nardus has been used in this ancient healing system for the treatment of toothaches, redness, irritation and inflammation of the skin, infectious diseases, digestive problems, headache, rheumatism and fatigue [2]. The roots of C. nardus are used for antipyretics, anti-inflammation, anti-analgesic and anticancer in traditional Thai medicine. This crude drug is an essential ingredient of Tree Phon Thad remedy which is a remedy notified in traditional Thai medicine textbook named Tumrapaadsard Song Khor. The standardization and quality control of raw herbal materials are essential to herbal drug development [3]. To control the quality of raw herbal material, establishment of standardization parameter is needed. Several studies have been reported for biological efficacy such as antimicrobial, antifungi, antiviral activities and chemical constituents of C. nardus leaves [4-8]. However, there have been no reports about pharmacognostic properties and chemical constituents of C. nardus roots. For a long period of traditional medicine, herbal drugs are often assumed to be safe. Nevertheless, previously research revealed that the water extracts from the root of A. marmelos which was one of plant material in Ben-Cha