Rapid Immunoassay of Aflatoxin B1 and Its Application in Traditional Chinese Medicine / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by toxigenic Aspergillus spp. (such as A. flavus and A. parasiticus) with carcinogenic,teratogenic and mutagenic effects. Studies have shown that AFB1 is widely found in crops,food,feed and traditional Chinese medicine,which poses a serious safety hazards to humans healthy. The establishment of a rapid detection technique that is suitable for AFB1 in different matrices has a great significance in preventing contamination,controlling food and medicines safety and ensuring human health. With the continuous improvement of small-molecule immune technology,various rapid immunoassays of AFB1 have been developed and utilized in recent years. This review systematically summarized current relevant standards for the detection of AFB1 in China and the maximum recommended levels for the application of aflatoxins in Chinese herbal medicines in some regions and countries. These standards are mainly applicable for aflatoxins in food,feed and some easily contaminated samples of Chinese herbal medicines. Some studies have shown that except the Chinese herbal medicines specified with the maximum recommended levels,some medicinal herbs and their products were also contaminated by aflatoxins. In addition,this paper reviewed the preparation technology of antigen and antibody for AFB1,and the rapid detection methods based on the specific recognition ability between antigen and antibody, including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay,immunochromatographic assay,fluorescence immunoassay,chemiluminescence immunoassay,and novel immunosensor method, were also summarized and compared. This review aims to provide the reference for rapid,accurate,and sensitive technical standards for the detection of AFB1 in traditional Chinese medicine during the agricultural planting,distribution, trade and quality supervision and for the market, pharmacies and hospitals,so as to ensure the quality and safety of the traditional Chinese medicines.

Identification and quality evaluation of Tripterygium wilfordii / 中国中药杂志

With the extensive clinical application of Tripterygium wilfordii, there are many counterfeit products on the market. Traditional technology can not effectively identify the authenticity of the traditional Chinese medicine. Therefore, a strategy of accurate identification and quality evaluation of Tripterygium based on DNA barcode and chemical fingerprint spectrum was established. Based on DNA barcode technology, HMMer annotation method of hidden Markov model and K2P model were used to analyze genetic distance.BLAST1, nearest distance and phylogenetic tree (NJ-tree) methods were used to assess the identification efficiency of the ITS2 barcode. The fingerprint of 27 T. wilfordii was established by UPLC-PDA method, and the similarity of the fingerprint of different sources was evaluated. The main components of T. wilfordii were determined by LC-MS/MS. The results revealed that the intraspecific genetic distances of T. wilfordii were lower than the interspecific genetic distances between T. wilfordii and its adulterants. The results of similarity search showed that ITS2 sequence was used to identify T. wilfordii and its adulterants. The clustering of T. wilfordii and its adulterants was clear in the tree of NJ cluster, and 12 of 27 samples were identified as true T. wilfordii.The chemical fingerprint spectrum research indicates that the feature one region can distinguish the false product of tripterygium glycosides more intuitively. The cluster analysis of HCA-thermal map showed that the contents of six active components of T. wilfordii from different habitats were significantly different, which could be used to evaluate the quality of T. wilfordii. This paper is of guiding significance for the accurate identification and quality evaluation of Tripterygium medicinal plants.

Contamination distribution and control measures of aflatoxins in Chinese herbal pieces / 中国中药杂志

As an important part of traditional medicine in China, traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) plays a significant role because of its unique medical efficiency, less adverse reactions and extensive resources. However, in recent years, the aflatoxins in medicinal herbs have been detected excessive both at home and abroad, seriously affecting the reputation and credibility of traditional Chinese medicine. In this paper, the current status of aflatoxins contamination in medicinal herbs was analyzed, and the internal and external factors of aflatoxins contamination in traditional Chinese medicine were also summarized. In view of the high toxicity of aflatoxins, it is proposed to strengthen the mildew prevention and control from the early planting to storage stage, and the reasonable detoxification mode should also be considered. This review aims to provide a reference in guaranteeing the clinical safe administration of medicinal herbs and reducing the risk of being poisoned by aflatoxins.

Advances on nanoparticles-tagged visual test strips for the rapid detection of pesticides / 中国中药杂志

The residue of the pesticides affects seriously the quality and safety of traditional Chinese medicine. Pesticide residue has caused ever-growing attention of people at home and abroad. Rapid detection techniques used for rapid screening of pesticide residues have expanded in a fast progress. As one of the fast development methods of rapid detection, visualization test strip based on nanoparticle has received much concern in recent years. This article focused on the classification of detection test strips and key factors on the fabrication of nanoparticle-based visualization test strips used in small molecule pesticides. Moreover, a wide application of nanoparticles-tagged test strips on pesticide residue was reviewed including single residue detection, multi residue detection, as well as quantitative analysis. Finally, the future application of visual test strip for detecting of pesticide residues in traditional Chinese medicine was forecasted, intending to provide the reference for rapid detection techniques on pesticide residues screening in herbal medicine industry.

Status of pesticide registration and residue analysis for traditional Chinese medicine in China / 中国中药杂志

The present paper outlined pesticide registration status for traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) and summarized the characteristics of pesticide contamination in different regions of some widely used TCMs by retrieving last 10 years' literatures. At present, the problems of pesticide residues for TCM include less pesticide registrations, widespread high-residue organochlorine pesticides contamination, pesticide abuse, irregular GAP bases and imperfect pesticide limit standards, etc. According to the current situation, we should adopt some control measures to strengthen the quality control of TCMs so as to ensure the safety of TCMs and related products.