Quality control of mother tinctures and dynamizations homeophatic of Melissa officinalis

ARCE, SILVIA; ALVAREZ MARIA E.; ACOSTA, GIMENA; FAVIER, LAURA; GOMEZ, MARÍA ROXANA; ORTEGA, CLAUDIA

San Luis

Congreso; XXVII Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2009

The lemon balm leaves, Mellissa officinalis L. are codified in the European Pharmacopoeia. The use of Melissa officinalis in the folk medicine is due, to the sedative and digestive properties. The aim of this work is assure the quality and genuineness of Lemon balm leaves used in the obtaining of mother tinctures (TM-h) and homeophatic dynamizations, developing a reliable analytical methodology, for the quality control of homeophatic products by capillary electrophoresis (CE). The rosmarinic acid (RA) is the major compound found in this herb. The electrophoretic analysis of TM-h presented one mean peak at 8.98 corresponding to the standard peak of RA. In the TM-h dynamizations 1 (D1) and 2 (D2) the presence of RA was detected. In addition, the concentration decreasing in D1 and D2 coincident with decimal dilutions could be confirmed. On the other hand, in D3 under the same experimental conditions, the peak was not detected. The present method represents a useful tool for the identification and quantification of vegetal tincture components and its respective dilutions. The CE methodology application for the RA determination in Lemon balm leaves results advantageous because of this technique rapidness and versatility.