Detection of aristolochic acids

The product Longdan Qiegan Wan ( Wetness Heat Pill) was removed from the Austrahan Register of Therapeutic Goods following the detection of aristolochic acid by laboratory testing by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (3). 

Detection of aristolochic acid I, tetrandrine and fangchinoline in medicinal plants by high performance Uquid chromatography and liquid chromatography/mass sp>ectrometry /. Pharm. 

The IR spectra are useful for detecting functional groups of Aristolochia alkaloids. Aristolochic acids show two characteristic bands at 1550 and 1350 cm due to the absorption of nitro group, and the carboxy OH group appears at 3000-2500 cm as a broad continuous absorption. Hydroxy derivatives of aristolochic acids or aristolactams show OH and NH absorptions at 3300-3500 and 3200-3400 cm The carboxy or lactam carbonyl is present at 1690 cm i. In general, the aromatic ring system shows stretches at 1625-1575 and 1525-1475 cm 1 as usual, and observation of the 900-700 cm region is often used for analysis of substitution type in aromatic derivatives 28). 

Urothelial cancer seemed to be a late complication of CHN since all the cases had been detected in patients with ESRD. However, the observahon of a generalized urinary tract cancer in a 69 year old woman after intake of Chinese herbal medicine containing aristolochic acids but without a significant renal failure suggests that a dissociation between carcinogenicity and nephrotoxicity of aristolochic acids is possible [42]. 

As a consequence of the toxicity related to the presence of aristolochic acid in plant preparations, several health institutions, such as the US Food and Drug Administration, Therapeutic Goods Administration have recently published safety information to prevent further cases of intoxication (information available at web address http //www.cfsan.fda. gov/ dms/ds-bot.html) [471], So detecting aristolochic acids in plant species that could be used in herbal remedies, and also in herbal preparations of uncertain composition, has attracted great priority in recent years to help prevent future adverse reactions. Aristolochic acids present in medicinal plants or herbs are analyzed by soxhlet extraction followed by TLC in the Chinese pharmacopoeia [412]. Another report used multiple ultrasonic extraction followed by HPLC analysis [472]. Ong s laboratory reported a method using a home made pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) system in dynamic mode to extract aristolochic acid in medicinal plants, followed by gradient elution HPLC [473]. Several scientific communities described various analytical methods for... 

Kampo medicines in which A.fangchi root or A. manshuriensis stem may be misused [492], Moreover, LC-PDA and LC-EIMS detection methods both were effective in distinguishing AAI (5) and AAII (5) peaks by their spectra. Very recently, we have reported the extensive analysis of aristolochic acids and aristolactams in the various Chinese medicinal plants and crude drugs using different techniques. A method has been developed using reversed phase liquid chromatography coupled with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) tandem mass spectrometry under the positive ion detection mode [LC/(+)APCI/MS/MS] to determine the amount of AA-1(5) in Xinxin, a traditional Chinese medicine that originate from nine Asarum species... 

Yamasaki, K, T. Tagami, M. Kawaguchi, et al. 2009. Simple and rapid analysis of aristolochic acid contained in crude drugs and Kampo formulations with solid-phase extraction and HPLC photodiode-array detection. /. Nat. Med. 63(4) 451-458. 

Schmeiser HH, Bieler CA, Wiessler M, van Ypersele de Strihou C, Cosyns JP. Detection of DNA adducts formed by aristolochic acid in renal tissue from patients with Chinese herbs nephropathy. Cancer Res 1996 56(9) 2025-8. 

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