Quality Assurance of Chinese Herbal Medicines (CHMs)
Zhongzhen Zhao1*, Peigen Xiao2, Ying Xiao3 and Jessie PS Yuen4
1. School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, P. R. China
2. Institute of Medicinal Plant of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Xibeiwang, Haidian District, Beijing 100094, P. R. China
3. Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center,
38 Xue Yuan Rd., Hai Dian District , Beijing, 100083, P. R. China
4. Bank of China (Hong Kong) Chinese Medicines Centre, Hong Kong Baptist University,
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, P. R. China
Abstract
As more and more people worldwide are using Chinese Herbal Medicines (CHMs), the safety of their use has raised international concern. Authentication and standardization of CHMs are needed. Authentication of a CHM includes both identifying its botanical origin and evaluating its pharmaceutical quality. In this paper, the important parameters for quality assurance are discussed. Quality control methods such as the examination of taxonomic, morphological and/or microscopic characters, fingerprint chromatography, DNA molecular marker are described and compared. Some topics related to herbal quality control such as contamination, processing as well as the new method MALDI-TOFMS are also introduced. Finally, modernization of Chinese medicine information was brought up.
Key words: Chinese Herbal Medicines (CHMs), authentication, standardization, quality assurance, fingerprint chromatography, DNA molecular marker, MALDI-TOFMS