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Research Article

Standard microscopic slide preparation technique as a new and useful tool for analyzing mucilage content in marshmallow root

By
Dragana Rančič ,
Dragana Rančič
Contact Dragana Rančič

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

Slobodan Dražić ,
Slobodan Dražić

Institute for Medicinal Plant Research “Dr. Josif Pančić”, Belgrade, Serbia

Svetlana Aćić ,
Svetlana Aćić

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

Radenko Radošević ,
Radenko Radošević

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

Zora Dajić Stevanović
Zora Dajić Stevanović

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis L.) root is used as a drug in medicine, pharmaceutical, cosmetic as well as in food products, due to the content of mucilage with a broad range of physicochemical properties. Since mucilage content in roots depends on genotype and growing conditions, the quality control is, therefore, one of the major tasks in the rational use of the drug.  In this paper we compare data for mucilage content in roots obtained by standard procedure which implies measuring of swelling ratio in dried samples, with anatomical features of roots obtained by different methods for anatomical analysis, and we have shown that anatomical method could be used for determination of mucilage content in marshmallow root.


 

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 

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