Pharmacognostical standardization and preliminary phytochemical explorations on Salvia hispanica L. seeds

Salvia hispanica L. famous as ‘chia’ is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to family Labiatae, is a richest source of alpha linolenic fatty acid.  A detailed examination on chia seeds was performed. The microscopic investigationsshowed the presence of lignified fibres, epidermis cells, aleurone grains, fatty oil globules and lignified sclerides etc. Physicochemical assessment of chia seeds revealed foreign organic matter (0.76%), loss on drying (8.09%), pH (4.39), moisture content (8.96%), swelling index (8.36), foaming index (<100), total ash (7.09%), water soluble ash (1.09%), acid insoluble ash (0.48%), sulphated ash (0.94%),relative density (0.892), refractive index (1.462), acid value (1.862), saponification value (194.29), peroxide value (4.680), acetyl value (169.28) and iodine value (74.62). Elemental analysis was performed using atomic absorption spectroscopy various heavy metals (As, Hg, Pb, Cd) and other elements (Cu, Zn, Fe and Mg) all were within limits. Chia seeds crude material as well as its extract showed no microbial contamination. High performance thin layer chromatographyfingerprinting profile of chia seeds fixed oil showed the presence of alpha linolenic acid. Work on standardization assumes imperative consequence. However,wide-ranging literature survey on this plant revealed that, more research work is required to update the standardization parameters. Therefore, findings of this study will facilitate quality control and presence of the various phytoconstituents in plant seed. Keywords: Salvia hispanica, Standardization, Pharmacognostical, Physicochemical, HPTLC fingerprints