Patent for Lauki juice: A tribute to Dr Dorle
   Date :07-Jan-2021

Lauki juice_1  
 
 
Staff Reporter :
 
 
Dr Sameer Dinkar Kulkarni, a post Graduate in Pharmaceutical Sciences and a recipient of prestigious BI research fellowship of Birla Institute of Technology is successful in enhancing the anti-oxidant activity of Lauki/Dudhi juice (Bottle Gourd). He has also received a patent for his research. According to Arvind Bhaskarwar, a member of Hridaya Mitra Mandal, “Hridaya Mitra Mandal, Nagpur is promoting bottle gourd juice since year 2000 for reversal of heart arteries blockages as well as controlling high BP and Cholesterol, under the guidance of internationally-known Dr Manu Kothari, Mumbai.
 
Mandal put the problem of short activity life of bottle gourd juice before Dr Sameer Kulkarni and requested him to work on this, so as to substantially extend the activity life. Dr Kulkarni accepted the challenge and conducted research under the guidance of Dr A K Dorle, former head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, RTM Nagpur University who also was the President of Hriday Mitra Mandal.” Bhaskarwar stated, “Lagenaria siceraria, commonly known as Bottle Gourd or Lauki or Dudhi is an excellent fruit for good health of human beings, due to its antioxidant property which protects cells from damages. Being prone to chemical degradation, the antioxidant activity of Bottle Gourd juice was known to last for two hours only, at ambient temperature.
 
Rapid changes in colour and the pH of juice on storage after extraction are ample indications of this phenomenon. Perhaps, because of this reason only, the formulation of L Siceraria (bottle guard) extract in ready-to-use form was becoming difficult.” Dr Kulkarni, who has several National and International Research Publications in his name carried out research at R&D Laboratory of Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi; under the guidance of late Dr Dorle. “After a continuous research for six months, the researchers Dr Kulkarni and Dr Dorle had developed a new technique/ technology in which microspheres were developed with increased antioxidant efficiency.
 
They have developed a stable microsphere formulation that has maintained its antioxidant efficacy for at least six months. Through this discovery, the researchers solved this pre-existing technical problem for the first time. The invention of the product with long lasting antioxidant efficacy was not known to the world earlier and hence a patent application was filed by Dr Sameer Kulkarni. The Indian Patent Office has taken note of this work and approved Patent for microspheres with stable antioxidant performance to Dr Sameer Kulkarni,” Bhaskarwar added. Unfortunately, Dr A K Dorle could not see his wish coming true. However, Hriday Mitra Mandal highly appreciates the efforts taken by Dr. Sameer Kulkarni and treats this patent as a tribute to Dr Dorle, Bhaskarwar said.