Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Mainz, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
Curr Drug Metab. 2011 Dec;12(10):989-96. doi: 10.2174/138920011798062328.
It is estimated that three quarters of the world population rely on herbal and traditional medicine as a basis for primary health care. Therefore, it is one of the most important and challenging tasks for scientists working in drug research to investigate the efficacy of herbal medicine, to dissect favorable from adverse effects, to identify active principles in medicinal plants and to ban poisonous plants or contaminations from herbal mixtures. In the present review, some problems are critically discussed. Botanical misidentification or mislabeling of plant material can play a role for toxic reactions in humans. Some plant descriptions in traditional herbal medicine (e.g. traditional Chinese medicine) have changed over time, which may lead to unintended intoxication by using wrong plants. A problem is also the contamination of herbals with microorganisms, fungal toxins such as aflatoxin, with pesticides and heavy metals. Unprofessional processing, which differs from safe traditional preparation represents another potential source for herbal poisoning. Unwanted effects of herbal products may also develop by the interaction of herbs with conventional drugs upon concomitant intake. The art of herbal medicine is to dissect pharmacologically and therapeutically valuable herbal drugs from harmful and toxic ones and to develop combinations of medicinal plants as safe and efficient herbal remedies. Standardization and strict control measures are necessary to monitor sustainable high quality of herbal products and to exclude contaminations that badly affect patients consuming herbal medicine.
据估计，世界上四分之三的人口依赖草药和传统药物作为基本的医疗保健手段。因此，对于从事药物研究的科学家来说，研究草药的疗效、区分有利和不利影响、鉴定药用植物中的活性成分以及禁止草药混合物中的有毒植物或污染物，是一项非常重要且具有挑战性的任务。在本综述中，我们批判性地讨论了一些问题。植物材料的植物学鉴定错误或标签错误可能会导致人类产生毒性反应。传统草药（例如，中药）中的一些植物描述随着时间的推移而发生了变化，这可能会导致使用错误的植物而意外中毒。草药受到微生物、真菌毒素（如黄曲霉毒素）、农药和重金属污染也是一个问题。非专业的加工方式与安全的传统制备方法不同，这也是草药中毒的另一个潜在来源。草药产品的不良影响也可能因草药与常规药物同时摄入而发生相互作用。草药医学的艺术在于从有害和有毒的草药中分离出具有药理和治疗价值的草药药物，并开发药用植物的组合，以制成安全有效的草药疗法。为了监测草药产品的可持续高质量并排除严重影响患者的污染物，有必要采取标准化和严格的控制措施。
