PA02.24. Importance of microscopic techniques for the identification/authentication of herbal medicines

Acceptance of Ayurveda is increasing in the society because of disclosure of its strong fundamental concepts and holistic approach. As a result, demand of Ayurvedic medicines are increasing day by day which results in the unprecedented requirement and depletion of raw materials, especially those of herbal origin. This depletion of herbs along with ignorance of herbal drug collectors from wild sources causes adulteration of drugs. Misinterpretation of Sanskrit slokas from classical texts also plays an important role. Adulteration of raw materials adversely affects the safety and efficacy of Ayurvedic preparations. Therefore standardization and documentation is essential to ensure the genunity of ayurvedic drugs. Identification and Authentication of medicinal plants are normally done by different methods like organoleptic, macroscopic, microscopic and chemical characters. Among them, microscopic techniques are one of the most important methods. The present work reveals the various microscopic characters to determine their authentication, genuity etc.