Planta Med 2019; 85(18): 1442
DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-3399777
Main Congress Poster
Poster Session 1
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

The quality variation of Danshen – an interdisciplinary approach to studying herbal medicine

KY Kum
1   Biodiversity and Medicines Research Cluster, UCL School of Pharmacy,, London, U.K
,
R Kirchhof
2   Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences,, Germany
,
R Luick
2   Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences,, Germany
,
M Heinrich
1   Biodiversity and Medicines Research Cluster, UCL School of Pharmacy,, London, U.K
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
20 December 2019 (online)

Also available at
 
 

In 2015, danshen, a Chinese medicinal plant used in circulatory and pain-related diseases, had a market value of around £54 million with ten thousand tonnes of the crude drugs being sold. Its cultivation sites are scattered throughout China and other Asian countries. Processing varies from site to site. [1]

Utilise metabolomic approaches alongside value chain analysis this project aims at understanding the quality of danshen and the interrelationship among its chemistry and pharmacology along with its value chain.

The result shows 4 out of 15 Vietnamese market danshen samples and 6 out of 16 Chinese online store samples, at the concentration of 100 ug/ml, cause cytotoxicity (P<0.05) in RAW 264.7 Six samples from Vietnam exhibit NO inhibitory effects (10.28% to 26.17%). Seventeen authenticated samples were tested but only two samples showed significant inhibition (25.38% and 13.23%) without cytotoxicity. With regards to heavy metal concentrations, all 24 finished products were below with threshold of the Chinese Pharmacopeia, but also show no activity. Two samples from Chinese online stores exceed acceptable cadmium levels (0.3 and 0.67 mg/kg-1).

HPTLC and NMR results suggest that drying straight after harvesting results in higher levels of tanshinones and salvianolic acids compared to the traditional processing which includes fermentation in the dark for several days prior to sun-drying.

In conclusion, this is the first study on danshen quality control to use interdisciplinary metabolomic approach including NMR, HPTLC combined with a pharmacological assay. Processing causes huge quality variation among market samples, especially in tanshinones, resulting in significant variation of the biological activity of Danshen.


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