DNA Barcoding and Pharmacovigilance of Herbal Medicines

Abstract

Pharmacovigilance of herbal medicines relies on the product label information regarding the ingredients and the adherence to good manufacturing practices along the commercialisation chain. Several studies have shown that substitution of plant species occurs in herbal medicines, and this in turn poses a challenge to herbal pharmacovigilance as adverse reactions might be due to adulterated or added ingredients. Authentication of constituents in herbal medicines using analytical chemistry methods can help detect contaminants and toxins, but are often limited or incapable of detecting the source of the contamination. Recent developments in molecular plant identification using DNA sequence data enable accurate identification of plant species from herbal medicines using defined DNA markers. Identification of multiple constituent species from compound herbal medicines using amplicon metabarcoding enables verification of labelled ingredients and detection of substituted, adulterated and added species. DNA barcoding is proving to be a powerful method to assess species composition in herbal medicines and has the potential to be used as a standard method in herbal pharmacovigilance research of adverse reactions to specific products.

Unidentifiable by morphology: DNA barcoding of plant material in local markets in Iran

“…In ethnopharmacology, pharmacognosy, and pharmacovigilance there is also strong reliance on vernacular names from products, interviews, pharmacopoeias, and literature for identification of plant material [11,12]. However, vernacular names are prone to ambiguity as one species may have multiple vernacular names or conversely one vernacular name may be applied to many, and often widely divergent, species [13,14].…”

“…spectabilis cause pulmonary arteritis [28] and acute hepatotoxicity [29]. A method to accurately identify plant materials in traditional herbal medicines is essential in order to guarantee consumer safety, and it is also important for quality control and product authentication [12,25]. Moreover, taxonomic identification of plant samples is crucial in ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological studies, as species identity connects local classifications to scientific names [13,15,16].…”

PhytoAuthent: Molecular authentication of complex herbal food supplements for safety and efficacy

“…1), with possible negative effects on the efficiency and safety of these products and, implicitly, on consumer's well-being and health (de Boer et al 2015). Around 200 different herbal products were bought from across the Europe and introduced in our study.…”

DNA barcoding: a genomic-based tool for authentication of phytomedicinals and its products

“…7,8 Due to these advances in DNA barcoding technique, multiple applications like ecological surveys, cryptic taxon identification, authenticaion of phytomedicinals, and herbal drugs have been employed. 17,18 These applications can be extended further if new genomic technologies are introduced into this technique.…”

“…7,17 A recent review on the authentication of herbal drug provides clear insight on DNA barcoding as a standard method in herbal pharmacovigilance research. 18 Another report suggests that DNA barcoding must be used in conjunction with metabolomics and need-based transcriptomics and proteomics for resolving authentication challenges associated with the phytomedicinals in herbal drugs. 73 Hence, the DNA barcoding approach can support immensely the herbal product authentication.…”