Planta Med 2011; 77 - SL48
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1282171

Hoodia gordonii: Quality control and biopharmaceutical aspects

I Vermaak 1, AM Viljoen 1, JH Hamman 2
  • 1Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa
  • 2Unit for Drug Research and Development, School of Pharmacy, Nort-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Hoodia gordonii Sweet is a popularly consumed commercially available weight loss product. Therefore, developing rapid quality control methods for raw material and products, and investigating key biopharmaceutical aspects of the perceived active ingredient P57, is of utmost importance. High performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) and vibrational spectroscopy coupled with chemometric analysis are attractive alternative quantification methods for P57. The in vitro transport of pure P57 and P57 from crude plant extracts across porcine intestinal and buccal tissue was also investigated. The HPTLC system produced good band separation including the P57 band [1] and linear calibration curves with good correlation coefficient (R2) values of 0.9706–0.9993 were developed for P57 quantification. For the NIR spectroscopy data, the partial least squares projections to latent structures (PLS) model with 2nd derivative pre-processing predicted P57 content with an R2 value of 0.9629 and a root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.03% [2]. Pre-processing of the Raman data with orthogonal signal correction yielded a PLS model with an R2 value of 0.9986 and an RMSEP of 0.004% [3]. Pure P57 was transported across porcine intestinal tissue at a much lower rate and extent than P57 from the crude extract. P57 was transported across the buccal mucosa when applied in the form of a crude plant extract but no transport was detected for pure P57 [4]. The availability of rapid alternative quantification methods may positively influence the quality of distributed raw materials and products. In addition, the current knowledge on biopharmaceutical aspects of P57 was increased.

Keywords: Hoodia gordonii, in vitro, P57, quality control, transport

References: 1. Vermaak I et al. (2010) S Afr J Bot 76: 119–124.

2. Vermaak I et al. (2010) Food Chem 120: 940–944.

3. Vermaak I et al. (2010) Phytochem Lett 3: 156–160.

4. Vermaak I et al. (2011) Phytomedicine in press doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2011.01.017].