Journal of Analytical & Bioanalytical Techniques
Open Access

Abstract

The quality of traditional herbal medicines is affected by misidentification, adulteration, lack of standardization, inappropriate labeling and contamination. The continued proliferation on to the UK and other markets of adulterated traditional medicines contaminated with heavy metals e.g., lead, arsenic and mercury in unlicensed products, reinforces the need for efficient and effective means to undertake QC analyses. Notwithstanding these safety issues there is an ever increasing interest in traditional herbal medicines in Western Europe which coupled with the legislative requirements of the EU Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD) 2011 reinforces the need for effective product information. It is proposed that as a minimum such products must include meaningful labels with appropriate details of content, batch number and expiration date. This research examined the quality and safety of a selection of herbal medicines and evaluated the usefulness of a range of simple spectroscopic and more complex chromatographic techniques for qualitative and quantitative determinations. The findings highlight the heterogeneity of traditional herbal medicines and illustrate some simple approaches to improving quality control testing whilst addressing issues of identification and adulteration.

Biography

Susanne P Boyle holds a Doctorate in xenobiotic metabolism gained through research which characterized and quantified phase I metabolites of polycyclic hydrocarbons implicated in human leukemias. She has extensive experience of a range of in vitro and ex vivo models which she has applied to investigate the antioxidant efficacy and neuroprotective qualities of selected herbal medicines and isolated phenolics. She has significant expertise in the development and application of hyphenated chromatographic techniques and spectroscopic assays to quantify oxidative biomarkers in clinical disease and to characterize key phenolics and evaluate quality control strategies for traditional herbal medicines.