Quality assessment of Ramabana Rasa: A comparative study using chromatography, XRD analysis, and physicochemical parameters

Ramabana Rasa, is a classical Ayurvedic herbo-mineral drug formulation. (Rasaushadhi) used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine. It is widely used for gastrointestinal disorders, and prepared using purified Aconitum ferox rhizome, Syzygium aromaticum buds, Piper nigrum seeds, Myristica fragrans kernels, and purified Mercury–Sulphur complex. Rapid therapeutic action with low dosage and long shelf life are the inherent medicinal properties of Rasaushadhi. Since metallic compounds are included as raw materials Rasaushadha has a complicated manufacturing process. Lengthy drug formulation procedure, limited supply of raw material, adulteration of raw material, and contamination are common quality control problems in Ayurveda drug manufacturing process. The lack of attention paid in maintaining desired quality parameters directly impact the safety and efficacy of the ethnomedicinal drugs. This study was aimed at comparative analysis of the quality parameters of three commercial samples of Ramabana Rasa drawn from different ayurveda drug manufactures in Sri Lanka against a sample prepared in-house under strict quality control conditions. Determination of physicochemical properties, chromatogram analysis using Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC), High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was carried out for each drug sample. The results of physicochemical properties revealed deviations between the market samples and the in-house sample. TLC fingerprints of four samples illustrated comparable banding patterns, indicating the presence of similar phytochemical compounds in all analysed samples. HPLC chromatogram showed similar chromatographic profile with different peak concentrations. According to the outcomes of XRD analysis, there were approximately comparable crystalline characters in the four samples. Deviations of processing methods, and quality of the raw materials could be some of the causes for these differences. These findings highlight the need for standardized processing techniques or operating procedures, to ensure the safety, consistency, quality, and therapeutic efficacy of herbo-mineral drugs.