Pakabhorn Ketmongkhonsit, Chaiyo Chaichantipyuth, Chanida Palanuvej, Worathat Thitikornpong, and Suchada Sukrong

pp. 319 - 326

Abstract

Phyllanthus amarus Schum. and Thonn. has long been used for the treatment of liver diseases. The hepatoprotective
compound presented in P. amarus was phyllanthin. In this study, the fast determination and quantitation of bioactive
phyllanthin in P. amarus and its commercial herbal drugs were developed using a simple thin-layer chromatographic (TLC)-
image analysis method. Chromatographic separation of phyllanthin was carried out and the intensity of phyllanthin was
examined by TLC-image analysis. The linear equation line showed good relationship for the calibration curve in the various
concentrations of phyllanthin. The limits of detection and limits of quantitation were 0.16 and 0.49 µg/spot, respectively. The
contents of phyllanthin from fifteen plant materials collected from different locations and twelve commercial herbal drugs
determined using the TLC-image analysis method were not significantly different from those determined using the TLCdensitometric method. These results suggest that the proposed TLC-image analysis method can be used as an effective
method for quantitating phyllanthin in P. amarus plants and commercial products.