Pharmacognostic Standardization and Chromatographic Fingerprint Analysis on Triterpenoidal Constituents of the Medicinally Important Plant Artocarpus heterophyllus by High‑Performance Thin Layer Chromatography Technique

Background: Artocarpus heterophyllus commonly known as Kathal in Hindi and Jackfruit in English has a wide horizon of medicinal possessions. The plant is found in India and in its tropical regions. Objective: Although the plant and its extracts are renowned for its ethnic medicinal values  diversely  in  India,  yet  organized  data  somewhere  lack  in  reverse  pharmacognostical  approach of this plant that shows that plant have not been completely explored for its therapeutic potency. Materials and Methods:  In  the  present  study,  the  folklore  potential  of  this  plant  has  been explored by generating down its pharmacognostical standards along with measurement of its active therapeutic constituent ursolic acid and lupeol via. High-performance thin layer chromatography  (HPTLC),  evidence  from  organized  data  search  says  that  ursolic  acid  and  lupeol  is ubiquitous to A. heterophyllus. The plant was also subjected to spectroscopic-based estimation of tannins (gallic acid and tannic acid) and flavonoids (quercetin and rutin). Antimicrobial testing was also performed. Results: Microscopic features revealed the presence of anomocytic type of stomata,  collateral  open  type  vascular  bundle  in  which  fascicular  cambium  is  present,  calcium  oxalate crystal and covering trichomes were key features in leaves. Methanolic extract of leaves of the plant was subjected to HPTLC. HPTLC studies revealed that both ursolic acid and lupeol are present in appreciable amount. Plant showed good antibacterial activity which may be due to the high amount of tannins as the tannins has the ability to disintegrate the bacterial cell wall. Conclusion:  The  data  generated  could  be  significantly  used  as  a  reference  for  the  authentication  and quality control of A. heterophyllus.