Simultaneous detection of five mycotoxins in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) by visual protein microarray.

The pollution of mycotoxins to crops such as traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) is an established problem throughout the world. Thus, mycotoxin determination in TCMs during production and processing is significantly necessary, which means rapid, sensitive and accurate analytical methods are needed. In this work, a new method of visual protein microarray based on a 96-well microtiter plate was proposed. Combined with a colorimetric method, five mycotoxins (ochratoxin A, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, aflatoxin B1 and fumonisin B1) in 90 samples (TCMs) could be detected simultaneously within 30 minutes. The detection limits for the five mycotoxins are 0.25 µg/kg, 0.33 µg/kg, 11.84 µg/kg, 0.06 µg/kg, and 3.58 µg/kg, which can satisfy specified requirements of mycotoxins in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2020 edition) adequately. Under repeated conditions, experiments were carried out on actual samples to verify the feasibility of the method. The results showed that the recoveries of all analytes were between 70 % and 120 %, and the relative standard deviations were less than 15 %. In comparison to LC-MS/MS, this method significantly reduces the required time, and the colorimetric technique offers more direct results compared to fluorescence-based screening assays. This method exhibits substantial potential for the rapid and sensitive on-site detection of TCMs for quality control.

Modulating the Gut Microbiota and Metabolites with Traditional Chinese Medicines: An Emerging Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Its Complications.

Currently, an estimated 537 million individuals are affected by type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), the occurrence of which is invariably associated with complications. Glucose-lowering therapy remains the main treatment for alleviating T2DM. However, conventional antidiabetic agents are fraught with numerous adverse effects, notably elevations in blood pressure and lipid levels. Recently, the use of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) and their constituents has emerged as a preferred management strategy aimed at curtailing the progression of diabetes and its associated complications with fewer adverse effects. Increasing evidence indicates that gut microbiome disturbances are involved in the development of T2DM and its complications. This regulation depends on various metabolites produced by gut microbes and their interactions with host organs. TCMs' interventions have demonstrated the ability to modulate the intestinal bacterial microbiota, thereby restoring host homeostasis and ameliorating metabolic disorders. This review delves into the alterations in the gut microbiota and metabolites in T2DM patients and how TCMs treatment regulates the gut microbiota, facilitating the management of T2DM and its complications. Additionally, we also discuss prospective avenues for research on natural products to advance diabetes therapy.

High-throughput discovery of highly selective reversible hMAO-B inhibitors based on at-line nanofractionation.

Human monoamine oxidase B (hMAO-B) has emerged as a pivotal therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease. Due to adverse effects and shortage of commercial drugs, there is a need for novel, highly selective, and reversible hMAO-B inhibitors with good blood-brain barrier permeability. In this study, a high-throughput at-line nanofractionation screening platform was established with extracts from Chuanxiong Rhizoma, which resulted in the discovery of 75 active compounds, including phenolic acids, volatile oils, and phthalides, two of which were highly selective novel natural phthalide hMAO-B inhibitors that were potent, selective, reversible and had good blood‒brain permeability. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations elucidated the inhibition mechanism. Sedanolide (IC50 = 103 nmol/L; SI = 645) and neocnidilide (IC50 = 131 nmol/L; SI = 207) demonstrated their excellent potential as hMAO-B inhibitors. They offset the limitations of deactivating enzymes associated with irreversible hMAO-B inhibitors such as rasagiline. In SH-SY5Y cell assays, sedanolide (EC50 = 0.962 µmol/L) and neocnidilide (EC50 = 1.161 µmol/L) exhibited significant neuroprotective effects, comparable to the positive drugs rasagiline (EC50 = 0.896 µmol/L) and safinamide (EC50 = 1.079 µmol/L). These findings underscore the potential of sedanolide as a novel natural hMAO-B inhibitor that warrants further development as a promising drug candidate.

Quality Consistency Evaluation of Traditional Chinese Medicines: Current Status and Future Perspectives.

Quality consistency evaluation of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) is a crucial factor that determines the safe and effective application in clinical settings. However, TCMs exhibit diverse, heterogeneous, complex, and flexible chemical compositions, as well as variability in preparation processes. These characteristics pose greater challenges in researching the consistency of TCMs compared to chemically synthesized and biological drugs. Therefore, it is paramount to develop effective strategies for evaluating the quality consistency of TCMs. From the starting point of quality properties, this review explores the strategy used to evaluate quality consistency in terms of chemistry-based strategy (chemical consistency) and the biology-based strategy (bioequivalence). Among them, the chemistry-based strategy is the mainstream, and biology-based strategy complements the chemistry-based strategy each other. Furthermore, the emerging chemistry-biology strategies (overall evaluation) is discussed, including individually combining strategy and integration strategy. Finally, this review provides insights into the challenges and future perspectives in this field. By highlighting current status and trends in TCMs quality consistency, this review aims to contribute to establishment of generally applicable chemistry-biology integrated evaluation strategy for TCMs. This will facilitate the advancement toward a higher stage of overall quality evaluation.

Screening of natural inhibitors against peptidyl arginine deiminase 4 from herbal extracts by a high-performance liquid chromatography ultraviolet-visible based method.

Peptidyl arginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) is an important biocatalytic enzymes involved in the conversion of protein arginine to citrulline, its dysregulation has a great impact on many physiological processes. Recently, PAD4 has emerged as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of various diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs), also known as herbal plants, have gained great attention by the scientific community due to their good therapeutic performance and far fewer side effects observed in the clinical treatment. However, limited researches have been reported to screen natural PAD4 inhibitors from herbal plants. The color developing reagent (COLDER) or fluorescence based methods have been widely used in PAD4 activity assay and inhibitor screening. However, both methods measure the overall absorbance or fluorescence in the reaction solution, which are easy to be affected by the background interference due to colorful extracts from herbal plants. In this study, a simple, and robust high-performance liquid chromatography ultraviolet-visible (HPLC-UV) based method was developed to determine PAD4 activity. The proposed strategy was established based on COLDER principle, while used hydrophilic l-arginine instead of hydrophobic N-benzoyl-l-arginine ethyl ester (BAEE) as a new substrate to determine PAD4 inhibition activity of herbal extracts. The herbal extracts and PAD4 generated hydrophobic l-citrulline were successfully separated by the HPLC, and the developed method was optimized and validated with a known PAD4 inhibitor (GSK484) in comparison with COLDER assay. The IC50 value of GSK484 measured by HPLC-UV method was 153 nM, and the detection limit of the citrulline was 0.5 nmol, respectively, with a linear range of 0.5 nmol to 20 nmol. The IC50 value of the HPLC-UV method was improved by nearly three times compared with COLDER assay (527 nM), and the results indicated the reliability of PAD4 inhibition via HPLC-UV method. The inhibitory effect against PAD4 were fast and accurately screened for the twenty-four extracts from eight herbs. Among them, Ephedra Herba extracts showed significant inhibitory activity against the PAD4 with the IC50 values of three extracts (ethanol, ethyl acetate and water) ranging from 29.11 µg/mL to 41.36 µg/mL, which may help researchers to discover novel natural compounds holding high PAD4 inhibition activity.

Perspectives of herbs and their natural compounds, and herb formulas on treating diverse diseases through regulating complicated JAK/STAT signaling.

JAK/STAT signaling pathways are closely associated with multiple biological processes involved in cell proliferation, apoptosis, inflammation, differentiation, immune response, and epigenetics. Abnormal activation of the STAT pathway can contribute to disease progressions under various conditions. Moreover, tofacitinib and baricitinib as the JAK/STAT inhibitors have been recently approved by the FDA for rheumatology disease treatment. Therefore, influences on the STAT signaling pathway have potential and perspective approaches for diverse diseases. Chinese herbs in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which are widespread throughout China, are the gold resources of China and have been extensively used for treating multiple diseases for thousands of years. However, Chinese herbs and herb formulas are characterized by complicated components, resulting in various targets and pathways in treating diseases, which limits their approval and applications. With the development of chemistry and pharmacology, active ingredients of TCM and herbs and underlying mechanisms have been further identified and confirmed by pharmacists and chemists, which improved, to some extent, awkward limitations, approval, and applications regarding TCM and herbs. In this review, we summarized various herbs, herb formulas, natural compounds, and phytochemicals isolated from herbs that have the potential for regulating multiple biological processes via modulation of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway based on the published work. Our study will provide support for revealing TCM, their active compounds that treat diseases, and the underlying mechanism, further improving the rapid spread of TCM to the world.

[Applications of ion mobility-mass spectrometry in the chemical analysis in traditional Chinese medicines].

Ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) is a combination of ion mobility separation and mass spectrometry technologies. In IM-MS, analytes are ionized by the ion source to form gas-phase ions, which are then rapidly separated using ion mobility based on their mobility difference, under the influence of both neutral buffer gas and an electric field, and then traversed and detected using mass spectrometry, which can separate ions based on mass-to-charge ratio. Furthermore, IM-MS could provide not only mass-to-charge ratio parameters like MS1 and MS2 spectra but also new structural information for component identification like collision cross-section values, drift time, arrival time, compensation voltage, and so on, which can be employed to resolve complex chemical components, especially indistinguishable isomers using mass spectrometry alone. In recent years, with the development of IM-MS technologies, IM-MS has become more widely employed in chemical analysis in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). Firstly, IM-MS was been successfully used in the separation of complex TCMs complex extract from interfering isobaric species. Secondly, IM-MS also offers new types of MS/MS fragmentation modes, and the combination of IM separation and fragmentation modes enables the acquisition of more specific and detailed fragment ion spectra. Thirdly, the collision cross-section is introduced by IM-MS, which is a unique physicochemical property of a component. Related data post-processing strategies based on experimentally derived collision cross-section values have been continuously developed in recent years to make full use of the collision cross-section values, these data post-processing strategies include collision cross-section database matching, theoretical collision cross-section values matching, machine-learning-based collision cross-section values prediction matching, mass-to-charge ratio versus collision cross-section correlation trend lines and so on. In doing so, these diverse strategies can greatly enhance the reliability and accuracy of the structural annotation of TCM compounds. This review primarily briefly introduces the major types and basic principles of IM-MS. The applications of IM-MS in TCM chemical analysis are highlighted in this study. The current applications of IM-MS in improving TCM chemical component separation are summarized, followed by a discussion of several strategies for enhancing separation selectivity. This review also offers some new fragmentation modes, novel data acquisition approaches, and collision cross-section data post-processing strategies applied in TCM qualitative analysis. Finally, the prospect of IM-MS applied in TCM chemical analysis is also discussed. This review provides approaches and ideas for future IM-MS research on TCM's chemical analysis.

A network pharmacology-based exploration of the active compounds and potential drug targets of Si-Jun-Zi decoction in the treatment of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), a kind of skin cancer with high rates of morbidity and mortality, occurs frequently in the clinic. Although early surgical treatment can achieve good results, there is no effective prevention and treatment for the recurrence and metastasis of cSCC. As a useful resource to protect humans from disease, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been adopted by clinicians for thousands of years. Methods: In this study, we collected a Chinese medicine formula and then employed a data mining method to analyze drug combinations of Si-Jun-Zi (SJZ) decoction. Multiple databases were used in this study to predict various ingredients, compounds, and their targets in the decoction. The potential targets of cSCC were also obtained from the database in the same way. In addition, as bioinformatics analysis methods, Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were used in our research as supplementary means to network pharmacology. Finally, we used ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) fingerprinting to analyze the effective components of the TCM decoction. Results: We detected 559 active compounds from Ginseng, Largehead Atractylodes, India Bread, and Glycyrrhiza Inflata, and selected 136 molecules under specific conditions. The mechanisms of the TCM formula were illustrated by the network pharmacology, such as compounds-herb network, compounds-target network, disease-target network, and target-target interaction network, as well as characteristics of the TCM. Then, GO analysis and KEGG analysis were performed on the compounds in the network using multiple methods of data mining and bioinformatics, and 10 candidate targets were identified. In addition, the UPLC fingerprinting method was used to analyze the components of SJZ decoction. Conclusions: Network pharmacology was performed to investigate the characteristics and mechanism of SJZ decoction, and a bioinformatics method was used to analyze the relationship between the effective compounds of the SJZ TCM decoction and cSCC-related specific targets and pathways, to find a variety of candidate compounds with multi-target activity.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Rhodiola Sachalinensis Borissova from Baekdu Mountain (RsBBM) for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Therapeutic Effect and Underlying Molecular Mechanisms.

The lack of effective rheumatoid arthritis (RA) therapies is a persistent challenge worldwide, prompting researchers to urgently evaluate traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) as potential clinical RA treatments. The present investigation was conducted to evaluate the therapeutic effects and potential molecular mechanisms of the active components isolated from TCM Rhodiola sachalinensis Borissova from Baekdu Mountain (RsBBM) using an experimental adjuvant arthritis model induced by injection of rats with Freund's complete adjuvant. After induction of the adjuvant arthritis rat model, the extract-treated and untreated groups of arthritic rats were evaluated for RsBBM therapeutic effects based on comparisons of ankle circumferences and ELISA-determined blood serum inflammatory factor levels (TNF-α, IL-1ß, and PGE2). In addition, the joint health of rats was evaluated via microscopic examination of hematoxylin-eosin-stained synovial tissues. Furthermore, to explore whether NF-κB and RANK/RANKL/OPG signaling pathways participated in observed therapeutic effects from a molecular mechanistic viewpoint, mRNA and protein levels related to the expression of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), osteoprotegerin (OPG), and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-Β ligand (RANKL) were analyzed via quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot analysis, respectively. Treatment of arthritic rats with the extract of RsBBM was shown to reduce ankle swelling, reduce blood serum levels of inflammatory factors, and alleviate arthritis-associated synovial inflammation and joint damage. Moreover, an RsBBM 50% ethanol extract treatment inhibited bone destruction by up-regulating OPG-related mRNA and protein expression and down-regulating RANKL-related mRNA and protein expression, while also reducing inflammation by the down-regulating of the NF-κB pathway activity. The results clearly demonstrated that the extract of RsBBM alleviated adjuvant arthritis-associated joint damage by altering activities of inflammation-associated NF-κB and the RANK/RANKL/OPG signaling pathways. Due to its beneficial effects for alleviating adjuvant arthritis, this RsBBM 50% ethanol extract should be further evaluated as a promising new therapeutic TCM treatment for RA.

Supramolecular assemblies based on natural small molecules: Union would be effective.

Natural products have been used to prevent and treat human diseases for thousands of years, especially the extensive natural small molecules (NSMs) such as terpenoids, steroids and glycosides. A quantity of studies are confined to concern about their chemical structures and pharmacological activities at the monomolecular level, whereas the spontaneous assemblies of them in liquids yielding supramolecular structures have not been clearly understood deeply. Compared to the macromolecules or synthetic small molecular compounds, NSMs have the inherent advantages of lower toxicity, better biocompatibility, biodegradability and biological activity. Self-assembly of single component and multicomponent co-assembly are unique techniques for designing supramolecular entities. Assemblies are of special significance due to their range of applications in the areas of drug delivery systems, pollutants capture, materials synthesis, etc. The assembled mechanism of supramolecular NSMs which are mainly driven by multiple non-covalent interactions are summarized. Furthermore, a new hypothesis aimed to interpret the integration effects of multi-components of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) inspired on the theory of supramolecular assembly is proposed. Generally, this review can enlighten us to achieve the qualitative leap for understanding natural products from monomolecule to supramolecular structures and multi-component interactions, which is valuable for the intensive research and application.

Prognostic Pathways Guide Drug Indications in Pan-Cancers.

Pathway-level analysis is a powerful approach enabling the interpretation of post-genomic data at a higher level than that of individual molecules. Molecular-targeted therapy focusing on cascade signaling pathways has become a new paradigm in anticancer therapy, instead of a single protein. However, the approaches to narrowing down the long list of biological pathways are limited. Here, we proposed a strategy for in silico Drug Prescription on biological pathways across pan-Cancers (CDP), by connecting drugs to candidate pathways. Applying on a list of 120 traditional Chinese medicines (TCM), we especially identified the "TCM-pathways-cancers" triplet and constructed it into a heterogeneous network across pan-cancers. Applying them into TCMs, the computational prescribing methods deepened the understanding of the efficacy of TCM at the molecular level. Further applying them into Western medicines, CDP could promote drug reposition avoiding time-consuming developments of new drugs.

N-butylidenephthalide ameliorates high-fat diet-induced obesity in mice and promotes browning through adrenergic response/AMPK activation in mouse beige adipocytes.

Thermogenesis (non-exercise activity) in brown adipose tissue (BAT) promotes energy expenditure because of its higher number of mitochondria than white adipose tissue (WAT). The main function of thermogenesis in BAT can counteract obesity through the dissipation of calories as heat. N-butylidenephthalide (BP) is a natural derivative from Angelica sinensis, a Chinese herb that has been used for thousands of years. In this report, we demonstrated that BP improved the metabolic profiles of mice with high fat diet-induced obesity (DIO) by preventing weight gain, improving serum blood parameters, enhancing energy expenditure, stimulating white fat browning, and reversing hepatic steatosis. Further investigations demonstrated that BP administration upregulated the mRNA expression of beige (CD137, TMEM26) and brown fat selected genes (UCP1, PRDM16, PGC-1α, PPARγ) in white adipose tissues. In vitro studies, BP treatment increased multilocular lipid droplet levels, induced ß-adrenergic receptor (cAMP/PKA) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling (AMPK/acetyl-CoA carboxylase/SIRT1), and increased oxygen consumption in murine differentiated beige adipocytes, and the effects of BP were blocked by an AMPK inhibitor. BP promoted the interaction of AMPK with PGC-1α in beige adipocytes. Our findings provide novel insights into the application of BP in regulating energy metabolism and suggest its utility for clinical use in the treatment of obesity and related diseases.

Application of smartphone in detection of thin-layer chromatography: Case of salvia miltiorrhiza.

In this work, a smartphone-based device was constructed for thin-layer chromatography (TLC) detection and semi-quantitative analysis of the components of Salvia miltiorrhiza. The key construction and shooting parameters were investigated by the relative peak area and signal-to-noise ratio. The best conditions were as follows: shooting height, 17 cm; angle between the UV lamp and TLC plate, 58°; exposure compensation, 0~0.2 EV; and shutter speed under daylight and UV 365 nm, 1/50 s and 1/5 s, respectively. These ideal conditions could be replicated by smartphones from different brands with different versions of software. With good precision, repeatability and stability, the developed device was used for the semi-quantitative analysis of salvianolic acid B, rosmarinic acid, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, and miltirone in the TLC analysis of 10 batches of S. miltiorrhiza. The results were compared with those obtained by a TLC densitometric scanner and two common types of image processing software, i.e., Gelanalyzer and ImageJ. Except for salvianolic acid B in the TLC densitometric scanner, all results were not significantly different among these methods, which suggested that smartphones might be a useful tool for the quality control of traditional Chinese medicines.

A review of traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common primary malignant intracranial tumor. Due to its high morbidity, high mortality, high recurrence rate, and low cure rate, it has brought great difficulty for treatment. Although the current treatment is multimodal, including surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, it does not significantly improve survival time. The dismal prognosis and inevitable recurrence as well as resistance to chemoradiotherapy may be related to its highly cellular heterogeneity and multiple subclonal populations. Traditional Chinese medicine has its own unique advantages in the prevention and treatment of it. A comprehensive literature search of anti-glioblastoma active ingredients and derivatives from traditional Chinese medicine was carried out in literature published in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science Cochrane library, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP database. Hence, this article systematically reviews experimental research progress of some traditional Chinese medicine in treatment of glioblastoma from two aspects: strengthening vital qi and eliminating pathogenic qi. Among, strengthening vital qi medicine includes panax ginseng, licorice, lycium barbarum, angelica sinensis; eliminating pathogenic medicine includes salvia miltiorrhiza bunge, scutellaria baicalensis, coptis rhizoma, thunder god vine, and sophora flavescens. We found that the same active ingredient can act on different signaling pathways, such as ginsenoside Rg3 inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis via the AKT, MEK signal pathway. Hence, this multi-target, multi-level pathway may bring on a new dawn for the treatment of glioblastoma.

The toxicity and safety of traditional Chinese medicines: Please treat with rationality.

For a long time, many people have believed that traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are safe because they derive from natural products. However, this belief has been greatly challenged in recent years especially after some reports on aristolochic acid involved in the genesis of cancer. According to the Chinese pharmacopoeia, many TCMs are known to be toxic, causing damage to the nervous, liver, renal, respiratory, and reproductive system. How to reduce the toxicity of TCMs and how to avoid abuse of TCMs in daily practice is the question? Here, we will give a brief summary and some tips on these issues. First, the accurate differentiation of a specific syndrome is the foundation of an effective and individualized treatment strategy, as well as the key to applying TCMs. Second, through standard processing, proper compatibility, rational decoction, and appropriate dose for TCMs, the harm of TCMs can be effectively avoided. Third, it should be remembered that Chinese herbs cannot be taken continuously as dietary supplements. Finally, Chinese patent medicines should be used with caution. In addition, the dosage of TCMs should not exceed the limit prescribed by the current China Pharmacopoeia, which will ensure the balance of efficacy and toxicity. Taken together, it is necessary to treat the toxicity and safety of TCMs with rationality. The more toxicity we can find, the more safety patients will have.

[Progress on lipidomics analytical methods and their applications in studies of traditional Chinese medicines].

Lipids have been documented to play comprehensive and significant role in many biological processes. As a branch of metabolomics,lipidomics research mainly involves the analysis of the variation of lipid metabolism profiles under different physiologic,pathologic conditions or drug intervention,the discovery of key lipid biomarkers of a disease in lipid metabolic networks,and the study of the mechanism of action of lipid metabolic regulation during disease onset and progression,and drug treatment. Traditional Chinese medicines( TCMs)are characterized with integrated effects by multi-components,multi-targets and integrated effects. It is urgent to develop methods suitable for the study of complex TCMs to reveal the active constituents and integrated mechanism of action. Systems biology such as lipidomics provides valuable strategy and approach to illustrate the complex mechanisms of TCMs. In this paper,in order to provide technical references for TCMs,we have reviewed the analytical techniques applied in lipidomics and the applications of lipidomics in TCMs researches.

Progress on lipidomics analytical methods and their applications in studies of traditional Chinese medicines / 中国中药杂志

Lipids have been documented to play comprehensive and significant role in many biological processes. As a branch of metabolomics,lipidomics research mainly involves the analysis of the variation of lipid metabolism profiles under different physiologic,pathologic conditions or drug intervention,the discovery of key lipid biomarkers of a disease in lipid metabolic networks,and the study of the mechanism of action of lipid metabolic regulation during disease onset and progression,and drug treatment. Traditional Chinese medicines( TCMs)are characterized with integrated effects by multi-components,multi-targets and integrated effects. It is urgent to develop methods suitable for the study of complex TCMs to reveal the active constituents and integrated mechanism of action. Systems biology such as lipidomics provides valuable strategy and approach to illustrate the complex mechanisms of TCMs. In this paper,in order to provide technical references for TCMs,we have reviewed the analytical techniques applied in lipidomics and the applications of lipidomics in TCMs researches.

Progress in the analysis of adulterated additives in traditional Chinese medicines and health care products / 中国药科大学学报

@#In recent years, cases of illegal addition of chemical substances into the TCMs and health-care products happened regularly. Therefore, it is particularly important to develop fast, sensitive and accurate analysis methods for detection of the adulterated chemical substances. Through literature survey of relevant papers published in 2016-2017, this article summarizes the application of various analytical techniques for adulterated chemical substances to the TCMs and health-care products with useful information for the further development of new methods and technologies in this field.

A holistic strategy for quality and safety control of traditional Chinese medicines by the "iVarious" standard system.

An effective quality control system is the key to ensuring the quality, safety and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). However, the current quality standard research lacks the top-design and systematic design, mostly based on specific technologies or evaluation methods. To resolve the challenges and questions of quality control of TCMs, a brand-new quality standard system, named "iVarious", was proposed. The system comprises eight elements in a modular format. Meaning of every element was specifically illustrated via corresponding research instances. Furthermore, frankincense study was taken as an example for demonstrating standards and research process, based on the "iVarious" system. This system highlighted a holistic strategy for effectiveness, security, integrity and systematization of quality and safety control standards of TCMs. The establishment of "iVarious" integrates multi-disciplinary technologies and progressive methods, basis elements and key points of standard construction. The system provides a novel idea and technological demonstration for regulation establishment of TCMs quality standards.

A holistic strategy for quality and safety control of traditional Chinese medicines by the"iVarious"standard system / 药物分析学报

An effective quality control system is the key to ensuring the quality, safety and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). However, the current quality standard research lacks top-level design and systematic design, mostly based on specific technologies or evaluation methods. To resolve the challenges and questions of quality control of TCMs, a brand-new quality standard system, named "iVarious", was proposed. The system comprises eight elements in a modular format. Meaning of every element was specifically illustrated via corresponding research instances. Furthermore, frankincense study was taken as an example for demonstrating standards and research process, based on the "iVarious" system. This system highlighted a holistic strategy for effectiveness, security, integrity and systematization of quality and safety control standards of TCMs. The establishment of "iVarious" integrates multi-disciplinary technologies and progressive methods, basis elements and key points of standard construction. The system provides a novel idea and technological demonstration for regulation establishment of TCMs quality standards.