Abstract Book - 3rd International Symposium on Medicinal Plants ...

Key words: Antifungal, Armoracia rusticana, horseradish, volatile oil.
3.53 Standardisation and Quality Control of Herbal Medicinal Products
Viljoen, Alvaro and Vermaak, Ilze
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Tshwane University of Technology,
Private Bag X680, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.
<strong>Abstract</strong>: It is a well-known fact that 80% of the world‟s population use herbal medicines. The
herbal medicines market has increased dramatically in recent years as consumers became more
health conscious, herbal medicines are considered safe by consumers and these products are
generally less expensive than allopathic medicines. These products are however not rigorously
regulated and quality and safety cannot be guaranteed. In fact, many cases of toxicity have been
reported, in some cases due to errors in species identification which is, or should be, one of the
first steps in a herbal quality control protocol. Established, methodical processes are necessary to
standardise herbal medicines to produce consistent and reproducible products. Herbal medicines
pose significant standardisation and quality control challenges due to their innate phytochemical
complexity and intraspecies variability. Standardisation and quality control involves inter alia the
authentication of plants followed by the quantification of identified biomarkers and the selection
and cultivation of the chemotype with the desired characteristics (e.g. ratios of biomarkers).
Vibrational spectroscopy has been identified and implemented as an important quality control
technique in the pharmaceutical, food and beverage and agricultural industries. The technique has
gained popularity as it is non-destructive, inexpensive, and any sample matrix (powder, liquid,
essential oils) can be tested with minimal or no sample preparation. Therefore, no bias is
introduced as a result of using different extraction solvents and the entire metabolome is used.
The large datasets obtained using vibrational spectroscopy (NIR, MIR and hyperspectral imaging)
are analysed using chemometric data analysis. This allows for species authentication using
discrimination models constructed using the orthogonal projections to latent structures (OPLS)
technique. In combination with data obtained from standard analytical methods (e.g. LC-MS),
calibration models which correlates the information in the spectral data to the chemical or
reference data was used to quantify biomarkers. In addition, cluster formation during exploratory
principle component analysis supplies valuable information through the detection of similarities
between samples. This may be used in conjunction with hierarchial cluster analysis to identify and
suggest the best chemotype to cultivate. Several examples related to quality control and
standardisation of medicinally and commercially important plant species will be discussed: Species
authentication and/or biomarker quantification (Agathosma, Harpagophytum, Illicium and
Pelargonium species); chemotype selection (Sceletium tortuosum).
Key words: Herbal products, medicinal plant, quality control, standardisation.
3.54 Volatile Terpenes Determined in the Emission of Some Plants by Means
of SPME and Chiral GC/MS
Yassaa Noureddine
USTHB, University of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumediene, Faculty of Chemistry, B.P.
32 El-Alia, Bab-Ezzouar, 16111 Algiers, Algeria.
<strong>Abstract</strong>: Plants are known to defend themselves against herbivores with chemical defences
that directly influence herbivore performance and indirectly by releasing chemicals such as
monoterpenes that attract the natural enemies of the herbivore. Many of the monoterpenes
produced by plants and insects exist in two enantiomeric forms. A Solid Phase MicroExtraction
(SPME) method has been validated for the determination of enantiomeric and non-enantiomeric
monoterpenes emitted by plants. These compounds were adsorbed in the field, and then thermally
desorbed at 250°C in a gas chromatograph injector port connected via a -cyclodextrin capillary
separating column to a mass spectrometer. The optimized method has been applied for
investigating the emissions of enantiomeric monoterpenes from Pseudotsuga Menziesii (Douglasfir),
Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) and Lavandula lanata (Lavender) which were selected as
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