Detection of Aristolochic Acid from Medicinal Herbs

  • Kang, Sook-Kyung (Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chungnam National University) ;
  • Song, Kyung-Bin (Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chungnam National University)
  • Published : 2003.10.01

Abstract

Aristolochic acid has been known to be a carcinogenic compound and to cause Chinese herbs nephrophathy. To determine the content of aristolochic acid in various medicinal herbs marketed domestically, samples of Aristolochia fangchi, Aristolochia fructus, Aristolochia radix, Asiasari radix, Saussureae radix, and Akebia caulis were analyzed using TLC and HPLC. The optimal conditions for TLC and HPLC were established for the quantitative analysis of aristolochic acid. This study showed that Aristolochia fangchi and Aristolochia fructus examined in this study contain aristolochic acid of 3.9 and 2.3 mg/g sample, respectively. In contrast, aristolochic acid was not detected in other samples.

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