A REVIEW ON BHASMA PARIKSHA

- MODERN PERSPECTIVE

Presented by Dr. Vaishnavi B R

1st year PG Scholar
Department of RSBK
AMV Hubli
 CONTENTS
Introduction
Analysis and standardization
Physical evaluation
Physiochemical tests
Test for organic elements
Instrumental analysis
Research articles
Discussion
Conclusion
 INTRODUCTION
 Ayurveda is one of the world’s oldest traditional
medicinal systems and is experiencing
revitalization among the consumers throughout the
world.
 In Ayurveda, medicines are prepared by adding
minerals , metals, parts of plants, plant juices,
alloys, etc., for the treatment of different illness.
 Bhasma is a unique ayurvedic herbomineral
/metallic formulations of nanodimension .
 Standardization of this nano dimension is essential
to minimize unevenness and to strengthen the
quality of ayurvedic products.
Analysis and Standardization of Bhasma
 Analytical chemistry is a tool to gain information
about the qualitative and quantitative composition
of substances.
Quantitative Analysis
Information regarding the presence or absence of one or
more components of the sample.
Qualitative Analysis
Information which is finally obtained by measuring
same physical property that is characteristically related
to the component.
 Physical Evaluation
Organoleptic Characteristics
 Color
 Smell
 Touch
 Texture
 Taste
 Physiochemical Tests
1. Ph. value-
Ph. value of a
liquid is determined by
means of a glass
electrode
and a Ph. meter.

Application- a) Determination of total quantity of

acid/base in same substance.
b) Ph. measurement of inaqueous solution.
 2.Specific gravity
 It is the weight of the liquid fomulation at 25 C
with weight of an equal volume of water at the
same temperature .
 It is determined with help of Pycnometer.
 Application-
 This test helps to determine the heavy metals in

the formulation, specific gravity > 1, have

tendency to sink in water.
 This determines the particle size.
 Reduction in the particle size may facilitate
absorption and assimilation of the drug into the
body system.
2. Determination of Ash value
Definition of ash- The
residue remained after
incineration is the ash
content of the drug.
The total ash usually
consists of Carbonates, Phosphates, Silicates and
Silica.
 This test indicates quality and purity of a

product as all organic material will burn off

leaving dirt, silica etc.
3) Determination of Acid Insoluble ash
Acid insoluble ash is a part of total ash in Dill Hcl.
Application- A high value of acid insoluble ash suggests
the presence of dirt, stones etc., that get mixed during
processing in the parent material as contamination.
The higher value suggests Inferior quality and low hygiene
standards in the production process.
4) Determination of Water soluble ash
Difference in weight between total ash and
the residue after treatment of the total ash with
water.
This indicates absorbable percentage of any drug.
5) Determination of loss on drying at 110 C
Used to measure the
amount of water
content and other
volatile material in a
sample upon drying
/Heat treatment .
 Test for Organic Elements
ELEMENT REAGENT RESULT
Calcium (Filtrate) dilute NH4OH White precipitate of calcium
( Ammonia solution )and oxalate forms
saturated ammonium oxalate
solution

Magnesium Heat and cool the filtrate with white crystalline precipitate.
solution of sodium phosphate
in dil ammonia solution gives
Sodium To 20ml test solution + little Yellow crystalline
uranyl magnesium acetate precipitate of sodium
reagent. magnesium uranyl acetate is
seen.
Potassium 2-3m l test solution +few Yellow precipitate of potassium
drops sodium cobalt nitrate cobalt nitrate is seen.
solution .

Iron 5ml test solution + few drops Dark blue coloration is seen.
of 2% potassium ferro
cyanide.

Sulphate 5ml filtrate+ few drops of 5 % white crystalline BaSO4

Bacl2 solution(Barium precipitate(Barium Sulphate).
chloride)
Phosphate 5ml test solution in Yellow crystalline Precipitation of
HNO3(Nitric acid)+ few ammonium phosphomolybdate is
drops of ammonium seen.
molybdate
Heat for 10 min and cool it.

Chloride 3ml test solution prepared in White precipitation of AgC12

HNO3 (Nitric acid)+few (silver chloride) is seen.
drops of 10% AgNO3 (Silver
nitrate )solution.
Carbonate With Solution of White ppt is formed.
Magnesium sulphate

Nitrate with solution of ferrous Brown colour is

sulphate yield no brown produced at the junction
colour,but if sulphuric acid of two liquids.
is added.
 Transmission Electron Microscopy:
 In this microscopic technique,
an image is formed when
a beam of electrons is
transmitted through an
ultra-thin specimen
and gets interacted
with the electrons
transmitted through the
specimen.
 Application
 The imaging device magnifies and focuses on
the image.
 The magnifying device contains layers such as
fluorescent screen, on a layer of photographic
film.
 Electrons passed through the sample are
imaged and gives the idea about the internal
structure of the sample.
 Thermo Gravimetric Analysis:
 TGA Technique records the changes in the
weight of the substance when the substance is
allowed for the heat or cooled environment at a
controlled rate and recorded as the function of
time or temperature.
 Plotting a graph between the changes in weight
versus temperature of time .It is used in the
testing the purity of samples and referred to as
TGA curve .
 Application
 TGA analyzes the changes in size, shape and
overall mass when exposed to varying
temperatures.
 It gives accurate details of the mass change of the
materials under test.
 Determines the stability of pharmaceutical drugs.
 Allows quantitative composition analysis.
 It determines the purity of a mineral, inorganic
compound, or organic material.
 Helps in determining the water/carbon content or
other residual solvents in a material.
 Allows analysis of reactions with air, oxygen, or
other reactive gas.
 Determination of Mercury /Sulphur by ICP-OES Analysis

Inductively coupled plasma

/optical emission
spectroscopy (ICP/OES)
is a powerful tool for the
determination of metals in a
variety of different
samples.
Instruments used – Nebulizers, Pumps, Spray
chambers, Drains, Torches, Transfer optics,
Monochromator ,Detector etc.
 Application
a)Determination by ICP-OES of essential, toxic and
therapeutic trace elements are important in the
medical research laboratories as well as in the
clinical and forensic lab environment.

B)Determinations of major ,minor and trace

compositions of various rocks, soils, sediments and
related materials.
 PARTICLE SIZE ANALYSIS

Laser diffraction can be used for the non-

destructive analysis of wet or dry samples, with
particles in the size range 0.02 to2000 micron.
 Application
a)It is a non destructive ,non intrusive method.

b) It measures particles in the range from 0.02

micron to a few millimeters.

c)The technique is equally applicable to dry or wet

samples ,sprays ,dry powders ,suspenison and
emulsions.

d)Rapid data acquisition- A single measurement

Across the entire dynamic range can be made in 0.4
milliseconds.
SEM(Scanning Electron Microscopy)
 The scanning electron microscopy is a type of
electron microscopy that images the sample
surface by scanning it with a high beam of
electrons.
 Imaging at all directions through (3D) rotation
of sample.
 Application
 SEMs are used in medical science to compare
blood and tissue samples in determining the
cause of illness and measuring the effects of
treatments on patients.
 Identifying various diseases and virus.
 Testing new vaccinations and medicines
 Comparing tissue samples between patients in
a control and test group
 Testing samples over the lifespan of a patient
 VOLUMETRIC ANALYSIS
 Volumetric method is an analysis which
consists of determination of volume of solution
of accurately known concentration required to
react completely with the solution of substance
to be determined.
 APPLICATION- It is used to volumetric
analysis of mercury and sulphur estimation
 X-RAY DIFFRACTION METHOD

It is a technique through which the special

arrangement of structural units of a substance in
the cystalline state is known.
 Application

a) Characterizing the crystalline structure and

heterogeneous solid mixtures .
b) Determining relative abundance and actual state of
chemical combination.

c) Only method available for determining

polymorphs of a substance.

d) Differentiation among various oxides.

e) Identification for various hydrates.

N.P.S.T.(Namburi Phased Spot Test)
 The basic idea of the spot test analysis seems similar to
spot test or chromatography ,but Namburi phased spot
test differs in measuring changes of colour pattern at
different time intervals.
 When a drop of clear solution of a substance is put on one
of the chemical reacting papers such as potassium
ferrocyanide paper , a spot with a series of changes in
colour and pattern will appear.
 It is the study of this spot and colour at three successive
phases spreading over three different time intervals is
known as the phased spot test. This technique is helpful
for the quality assessment of bhasmas as per the
standards.
 APPLICATION
 Sensitivity of the reactions at different time
intervals is measured, unlike the
chromatography of chemistry.
 The continual reactions taking place gradually
between two chemical substances on static
media at fraction of second time are easily
detected by their distinct colour changes.
 The pattern of spot which is specific to each
rasa formulation has to be compared with the
standard spots provided in the manual.
 Toxicity Studies

Toxicity studies are performed to evaluate acute

and chronic toxicity profile of prepared bhasmas
on experimental animals.
For this purpose albino rats of either sex
weighing between 180 to 250 gm are used.
Permissible limit As per API
Lead - 10 (ppm)
Cadmium- 0.3 (ppm)
Mercury - 1 (ppm)
Arsenic - 3 (ppm)
CONCLUSION-Bhasma are most ancient form of herbomineral formulation used
in Ayurveda still plays an important role due to its nano particle nature and also
having pharmacological activities like analgesics, antiiflammatory, immune-
modulatory, antioxidant etc. As Bhasma is said to be ancient nano medicine, they
can be used for different ailments and are made target oriented with increased
therapeutic efficacy, but due to lack of quality control methods, nonsystemic
standardisation procedures made them unacceptable by modern world. So it’s
urgent need to develop systematized standardisation procedure to prove their
therapeutic efficiency, purity and quality.
 ARTICLES

CONCLUSION-Physicochemical characterization is essential for drug

standardization. Analysis of marketed formulation of Bhasma through
modern analytical procedures such as SEM XRD leads to finding the
variations in composition. Ayurvedic literature emphasizes the use of heavy
metals in their formulations for curing and prevention of diseases. It is
essential to evaluate Ayurvedic formulations for their content due to the
possibility of the occurrence of heavy metal toxicity.
CONCLUSION- Bhasmas are complex materials,
physicochemical analysis using modern techniques will be
most attractive for the standardization of Bhasma
medicines.
This would definitely help in building confidence in use of
such products for medication.
CONCLUSION- Herbo-mineral formulations of Ayurveda
constituting bhasma as an ingredients are as superior as it is
today, in view of this high demand for the use of bhasma, there
is need to bring about standardization of their raw material,
preparation process and the end product.
 DISCUSSION
 The Organoleptic Characteristics of the bhasma
can be co-related to the Shada, sparsha,roopa ,rasa
and ghandha pariksha mentioned in ayurvedic
classics.
 Varitara, rekhapurnata can be co-related to SEM,
TEM ( Particle size analysis).
 Advanced methods for standardization of bhasmas
will assure in building confidence in the use of
products for medicinal purposes by ensuring
safety, efficacy, and batch to batch uniformity of
the product.
 CONCLUSION
 The ayurvedic bhasma prepared by different
brands differ in quality, as there is variation in
elemental concentration which may imbalance the
human body function.
 For the proper treatment plan regarding minerals
and metals ,further work on bhasmas are needed,
regarding its constituents and there quantity.
 Additional requirements are needed to develop
characterization and standardization of bhasmas
by comparing them with nano preparations of
powdered dosage forms to emphasis and enhance
the usage of bhasmas.
THANK YOU