Sequence-Specific Detection of Aristolochia DNA - A Simple Test for Contamination of Herbal Products.

ABSTRACT: Herbal medicines are used globally for their health benefits as an alternative therapy method to modern medicines. The market for herbal products has increased rapidly over the last few decades, but this has in turn increased the opportunities for malpractices such as contamination or substitution of products with alternative plant species. In the 1990s, a series of severe renal disease cases were reported in Belgium associated with weight loss treatment, in which the active species Stephania tetrandra was found to be substituted with Aristolochia fangchi. A. fangchi contains toxic aristolochic acids, which have been linked to kidney failure, as well as cancers of the urinary tract. Because of these known toxicities, herbal medicines containing these compounds, or pote

SUBMITTER: Sgamma T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6297175 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature