Quantification of mangiferin content in different parts of Salacia chinensis L., a potential anti-diabetic plant from Kerala regions of the Western Ghats

Salacia chinensis L., is a potential medicinal plant with high therapeutic values that has been extensively used in traditional and modern medicines to treat diabetes and obesity. The present investigation is aimed to quantify the mangiferin (an anti-diabetic molecule) content in different parts of S. chinensis distributed in the Kerala region of the Western Ghats using Reverse-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC). Mangiferin content was detected in all analysed plant parts. Among the different root samples analysed, the highest (2.32mg/g) mangiferin content was observed in the samples collected from Sreenivasapuram region followed by the samples collected from Kumarakom region (1.04mg/g) and Palode region (0.97mg/g). The lowest concentration (0.34mg/g) in the root was observed in the sample collected from Vattappara region. From the analysed leaf samples, highest (2.14mg/g) content was obtained in the accession collected from Palode region followed by the samples collected from Sreenivasapuram region (1.68mg/g) and Kumarakom region (1.62mg/g). All the collected stem samples showed lower mangiferin content (0.05mg/g to 0.76mg/g). The roots as well as leaves were identified as good source of mangiferin whereas stem samples contain very low quantity of mangiferin. The present investigation opens an avenue for effective extraction of the bioactive compound for antidiabetic property.