Chinese quality evaluation

Zhang, P., Cui, Z., Liu, D., Wang, D., Liu, N. and Yoshikawa, M. 2005. Quality evaluation of traditional Chinese drug Toad Venom from different origins through a simultaneous determination of bufogenins and indole alkaloids by HPCL. Chemistry and Pharmacy Bulletin, 53(12) 1582-1586. 

Su W, Feng Y, Wu Z, Zhang R, Ye W, Peng D. Study on quality evaluation of Chinese traditional patent medicine with chemical pattern recognition. Zhong... 

Zhang JS, Tian Z, Lou ZC. [Quality evaluation of twelve species of Chinese Ephedra (ma huang)]. Yao Hsueh Hsueh Pao 1989 24(11) 865—871. 

Lou, Z.-C. and Qin, B., Species Systematization and Quality Evaluation of Commonly Used Chinese Traditional Drugs, Beijing Medical University China Xiehe Medical University Joint Publishing, Beijing, China, 1994 (in Chinese). 

Zeng, L., Z.-C., Lou, and R.-Y. Zhang Quality Evaluation of Chinese Licorice. Yaoxue Xuebao (Acta Pharm. Sinica, China), 26, 788 (1991) Chem. Abstr., 116, 46404b (1992). 

Similar to the challenges outlined in Chapter 2, the fact that most Chinese herbal medicines are complex mixtures of multiple active constituents further complicates the interpretation of study data, as well as extrapolation to other botanical products. Japanese Kampo (traditional Chinese herbal mixtures) prescriptions have been used for many years to treat different chronic conditions and are presently manufactured in Japan as drugs with standardized quantities and qualities of constituents. Homma et al. (51) evaluated the effect of three commonly used Japanese Kampo prescriptions, Sho-saiko-to (Xiao Chai Hu Tang), Saiboku-to, and Sairei-to, on prednisolone pharmacokinetics in humans. All three botanical prescriptions contain glycyrrhizin, a strong inhibitor of 11-p-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. Chen et al. (52) had shown that glycyrrhizin decreased plasma clearance and increased AUC and concentration of prednisolone. 

In a very recent study, Consonni et al. (2009) evaluated the geographical discrimination of Chinese and Italian triple concentrate tomato paste samples by 1H NMR (a typical 1H NMR spectrum with expansion and assignments is reported in Fig. 4.18) and multivariate statistical analysis. Despite a good market for imported triple concentrated tomato paste from China, the biggest world tomato producer, very few indications suggest the possibility of identifying the origin and the quality of different... 

Krishnamoorthy B., Zachariah, T.J., Rema, J. and Mathew, P.A. (1999). Evaluation of selected Chinese cassia (Cinnamomum cassia Blume) accessions for chemical quality. Journal of Spices and Aromatic Crops 8(2), 1 93-1 95. 

Historically, explosives were invented in ancient China for use as a kind of "medicine with ignition quality", called fire medicine in Chinese. But these devices are dangerous and can cause accidents. Therefore, safety evaluation should be carried out in parallel with their development. 

General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People s Republic of China. 2005. Evaluation of Seismic Safety for Engineering Sites (GB17741-2005). Beijing, China Standards Publishing House, (in Chinese). 

Furthermore, analytical reliable studies have been developed in order to evaluate the quality of Polygala japonica Houtt, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine from different locations in China. An HPLC method using an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) has been developed allowing the simultaneous quantification of six triterpenoid s aponins in the drug [10]. The separation has been achieved on a Discovery C-18 analytical column. The authors concluded that the total content of the six saponins could be used as chemical markers to assess the quality of P. japonica. 

Although it is a positive QC development that fingerprinting methods have been introduced in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2010, at the same time it should be remarked that the techniques and evaluation are still somewhat primitive. Neither of the two proposed methods takes the absolute concentration of constituents into consideration. The specific chromatogram method also does not take the relative concentration into accoimt. From a quality control point of view, it is obvious that differences in absolute as well as relative concentrations influence the quality of a TCM. A good LC fingerprint can provide this information and enables discrimination between samples. Therefore, improved chemometric evaluation protocols are necessary. 

Proper data processing (chemometrics) requires more consideration. For instance, currently the Chinese Pharmacopoeia uses only relative retention times and sometimes relative ratios (i.e., qualitative information) to evaluate LC profiles. However, the absolute concentrations of components are clearly also of importance for the quality of TCMs. Thus,... 

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