Influence of lunar cycle and seasonal dynamics on phytoconstituents in Calotropis gigantea Linn R Br and Calotropis procera Ait R Br

Abstract

Calotropis gigantea and Calotropis procera are commonly known as Sodom apple Sweta arka and giant milkweed Rakta arka, respectively. Calotropis species belong to the Asclepediaceae family and are drought- and salt-resistant perennial herbs with high pharmacological significance in traditional and Unani systems of medicine. From ancient to modern times, Calotropis species have been evergreen, easily accessible, and major research-oriented plants with high therapeutic, agricultural, ecological, economic, and social value, making them imperative for research attention to date. newlineIn addition, as the global diabetes prevalence is estimated to be 9.3% in 2019 and rising to 10.2% by 2030 - 17% by 2045 in India, it is necessary to raise the fruitful steps towards prevention of diabetes in terms of herbal drug instead of synthetic one. So, ancient traditional and modern pharmacological uses of medicinal plants pave the way towards series of systematic evaluate them in terms of Evam rutu i.e. seasonal as well as lunar cycle. newlineHenceforth, the present study focused on evaluating the effect of seasons winter, summer, and rainy and lunar cycles full moon and new moon days on the phytoconstituents of all parts of Calotropis species collected from the Maliba campus, as well as their anti-diabetic effects. The study revealed that different plant parts have different physiologies and functions, including varied concentrations of phytoconstituents. The whole plant aqueous extract collected in the winter season during the full moon phase showed significantly promising activity among all samples. These investigations highlighted the importance of potency, purity, richness in quality, and the highly active stage of the drug, which can be achieved through proper and perfect seasonal collection of plants. newlineThe present study also attempts to hydrolysis 1 N HCl followed by preparative thin layer chromatography TLC and employed for FT-IR which confirmed the aglycon part (steroid) of extract having lactone ring.