Effect of Pulsed Electric Field on Alkaloids of Vinca rosea Root

Worldwide about 400 million people suffer from diabetes. It is a complex, systemic disease affecting many in both developed and developing countries. Treating this pandemic with costly synthetic drugs leads to several side effects and incomplete cure urges to give more importance to phytomedicines. From the very dawn, many bioactive compounds derived from medicinal plants have been used to treat human diseases. Most prevalent phytochemicals include alkaloids, polysaccharides, and phenols. Out of these, Vinca alkaloids, derived from Catharanthusroseus plant shows potent hypoglycaemic activity. A number of studies have been carried out to produce effective crude extracts from medicinal plants. Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) is an emerging non-thermal process which helps in enhancing the extraction process. In this study, the crude extract of roots of Vinca rosea, obtained by conventional method and with the pulsed electric field extracts are compared. Phytochemical screening and total amount of alkaloids present in the extracts are obtained. The extracts are subjected to different varying electrical parameters from 1.25kV/cm to 3.125kV/cm. There is 135.12% increase in alkaloids in PEF treated root extracts with electrical parameters (15 pulses, 100μs, 3.125 kV/cm) than the untreated extracts. Hence, these PEF treated extracts of roots can be used to treat diabetes which helps in lowering the glucose level in the blood.