Haematocarpus Validus(Miers) Bakh.f.ex Forman (Khoon phal): An Ethnomedicinal Fruit Crop Rich in Choline

Haematocarpus validus, a lesser known rare ethnic fruit crop of high nutraceutical and therapeutic value, is used as a hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory agent in traditional medicine. The study aimed to estimate choline content of methanolic fruit and leaf extract of H. validus for the first timeusing High Performance-Thin Layer Chromatography spectrodensitometric analysis. Choline is an essential nutrient for liver health and it reduces fatty liver build up. For separation and quantitation of choline from methanolic fruit and leaf extract, methanol:water (8:2, v/v) was found suitable as mobile phase. Choline bitartrate was used as reference compound for the preparation of standard curve (r= 0.97874; Y = 8.624 0.080X; SDV = 9.35 %). For fruit extract the amount of choline present in the sample was estimated as 197.81 mg/100g d.wt from the peak area of spectrodensitogram. Choline content was found to be very high in leaf extract (in both defatted and non-defatted leaf extract) and it was >500 mg/100g d.wt. The high content of choline in leaf samples of H. validus substantiates the ethnomedicinal use of its leaf and shoot extract as a hepatoprotective agent.