Carissa carandas Linn. is an evergreen, diffuse and spiny shrub grown in different parts of India for its edible fruits. Fruits
of C. carandas are used as potential analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic agent. An HPTLC method has been
developed and validated for estimation of β-sitosterol content in C. carandas fruits collected from different geographical
regions of India. Chromatographic separation was achieved on TLC plates pre-coated with silica gel 60 F254 using toluene:
methanol (8:1, v/v) as a mobile phase. A compact spot of β-sitosterol at Rf value of 0.46 ± 0.02 was observed in all the
samples of C. carandas by derivatizing the HPTLC plate with 10 % methanolic sulphuric acid reagent followed by its
densitometric scanning using CAMAG TLC scanner 2 at 366 nm. The method was validated as per ICH guidelines.
Statistical analysis reveals that, the content of β-sitosterol in different geographical region varied significantly.