Analysis of Fluid Extracts Obtained from Papaver rhoeas Petals Contaminated with Papaver bracteatum Petals

Abstract

In this paper, we report a case of misidentification of medicinal plants involving dried petals of Papaver rhoeas (red poppy) contaminated with Papaver bracteatum (scarlet poppy) petals. Preliminary TLC analysis indicated the presence of thebaine either in the fluid extracts or in the petals. It was therefore necessary to carry out an accurate botanic examination of the plant material, which revealed contamination of the red poppy petals with scarlet poppy petals. Moreover, to confirm the adulteration, we developed and validated an efficient, reversed-phase ion pair HPLC method for determination of the alkaloids specific for the Papaver species. Six petal batches and five commercial fluid extracts were analyzed. Only one petal batch from Iran contained thebaine and its analogue oripavine while the alkaloids typical for the Papaver bracteatum species were identified in all fluid extracts, meaning that they were all prepared with contaminated petals.

Key words

thebaine - oripavine - Papaver rhoeas - Papaver bracteatum - Papaveraceae - ion pair reversed-phase HPLC

• References

• 1 Ahmad M, Khan MA, Zafar M, Arshad M, Sultana S, Abbasi BH, Ud-Din S. Use of chemotaxonomic markers for misidentified medicinal plants used in traditional medicines. J Med Plant Res 2010; 4: 1244-1252
• 2 Chiou SJ, Jen JH, Fang CL, Chen HL, Lin TY. Authentication of medicinal herbs using PCR-amplified ITS2 with specific primers. Planta Med 2007; 73: 1421-1426
• 3 Fennel CW, Lindsey KL, McGaw LJ, Sparg SG, Stafford GI, Elgorashi EE, Grace OM, Van Staden J. Assessing medicinal plants for efficacy and safety: pharmacological screening and toxicology. J Ethnopharmacol 2004; 94: 205-217
• 4 Canter PH, Thomas H, Ernst E. Bringing medicinal plants into cultivation: opportunities and challenges for biotechnology. Trends Biotechnol 2005; 23: 180-185
• 5 WHO. WHO Guidelines on good manufacturing practices (GMP) for herbal medicines. Available at http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2007/9789241547161_eng.pdf [WHO Guidelines on good manufacturing practices (GMP) for herbal medicines. Geneva: WHO Press; 2007. ISBN ISBN: 9789241547161 ]
• 6 Choe S, Kim S, Lee C, Yang W, Park Y, Choi H, Chung H, Lee D, Hwang BY. Species identification of Papaver by metabolite profiling. Forensic Sci Int 2011; 211: 51-60
• 7 Hosokawa K, Shibata T, Nakamura I, Hishida A. Discrimination among species of Papaver based on the plastid rpl16 gene and the rpl16-rpl14 spacer sequence. Forensic Sci Int 2004; 139: 195-199
• 8 Theuns HG, Janssen RHAM, Salemink CA. The alkaloids of the Papaver section oxytona Bernh. In: Craker LE, Simon JE, editors Herbs, spices and medicinal plants: recent advances in botany, horticulture, and pharmacology. Volume II. Binghamton: The Haworth Press Inc.; 1991: 57-110
• 9 Spinella M. The psychopharmacology of herbal medicine. Cambridge: The MIT Press; 2001: 281-328
• 10 Theuns HG, Theuns HL, Lousberg RJJC. Search for new natural sources of morphinans. Econ Bot 1986; 40: 485-497
• 11 Seidi S, Yamini Y, Heydari A, Moradi M, Esrafili A, Rezazadeh M. Determination of thebaine in water samples, biological fluids, poppy capsule, and narcotic drugs, using electromembrane extraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. Anal Chim Acta 2011; 701: 181-188
• 12 Sooyeun L, Park Y, Han E, Choi H, Chung H, Oh SM, Chung KH. Thebaine in hair as a marker for chronic use of illegal opium poppy substances. Forensic Sci Int 2011; 204: 115-118
• 13 Reid RG, Durham DG, Boyle SP, Low AS, Wagboonskul J. Differentiation of opium and poppy straw using capillary electrophoresis and pattern recognition techniques. Anal Chim Acta 2007; 605: 20-27
• 14 Lin X, Wang J, Li L, Wang X, Lü H, Xie Z. Separation and determination of five major opium alkaloids with mixed mode of hydrophilic/cation-exchange monolith by pressurized capillary electrochromatography. J Sep Sci 2007; 30: 3011-3017
• 15 Fakhari AR, Nojavan S, Ebrahimi SN, Evenhius CJ. Optimized ultrasound-assisted extraction procedure for the analysis of opium alkaloids in Papaver plants by cyclodextrin-modified capillary electrophoresis. J Sep Sci 2010; 33: 2153-2159
• 16 European Pharmacopoeia 7.0. Red poppy petals. Strasbourg: EDQM Publication; 2012: 1222
• 17 European Pharmacopoeia 7.0. Opium row. Strasbourg: EDQM Publication; 2012: 1204
• 18 Pascual JA, Sanagustin J. Fully automated analytical method for codeine quantification in human plasma using on-line solid-phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. J Chromatogr B 1999; 724: 295-302
• 19 Vincent PG, Engelke BF. High pressure chromatography determination of the five major alkaloids in Papaver somniferum L. and thebaine in Papaver bracteatum Lindl, capsular tissue. J Assoc Offic Anal Chem 1979; 62: 310-314
• 20 European Pharmacopoeia 7.0. Dihydrocodeine hydrogen tartrate. Strasbourg: EDQM Publication; 2012: 1845