QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ON THE ACTIVE COMPONENT OF SILYMARIN IN SILYBUM MARIANUM SEED POWDER FROM VARIOUS GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS

Abstract

Many studies have proved that bioactive components of Silybum marianum powder have excellent hepatoprotective action. The silymarin is a mixture of mainly three flavonolignans, for example, silybin, silydianin and silychristin, with silybin being the most active. The active substances work upon the membrane of the liver cell preventing its destruction and favoring the reconstruction of the cell which is already in the process of destruction. In this study, we measured the quantitative of total silymarin in the powder of Silybum marianum from various geographical areas. Results showed that silymarin content varied according to the geographical location. The quantitative dosing of the silymarin extract existing in the Silybum marianum powder samples from the analyzed geographical areas was performed by the UV spectrophotometric method on soxhlet extraction and they fall within the parameters described in the European Pharmacopoeia.