IJSRP, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2020 Edition [ISSN 2250-3153]
Abhishek Gupta, Mangala Jadhava, Ruchi Sharma
Abstract:
Gunja (Abrus precatorius linn.) described under the category of upavisha, a sub-poisonous drug in Ayurveda. Seeds of gunja have active principle Abrin, which is said to have toxic properties, which can cause severe nausea, vomiting, convulsions, liver failure, severe purgation and death. Also no antidote exists for abrin, the most important factor is avoiding abrin. There are many Ayurvedic medicines which contain gunja as a key ingredient. Gunja seeds are used only after processing in certain medias, known as shodhana prcocess. In the present study, rakta gunja seeds were processed in three medias godugdha, kanji and water at same temperature and evaluated against the raw sample for its abrin content. The study was conducted to evaluate which media reduces abrin to its maximum. Abrin is a protein, which is denatured when subjected to high temperature and removes its toxicity.