School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.
J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2022 Oct 25;220:115016. doi: 10.1016/j.jpba.2022.115016. Epub 2022 Aug 22.
Polysaccharides from natural medicines, being safe and effective natural mixtures, show great potential to be developed into botanical drugs. However, there is yet one polysaccharide-based case that has fulfilled the Botanical Guidance definition of a botanical drug product. One of the reasons is the analytical methods commonly used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of polysaccharides fall far behind the quality control criteria of botanical drugs. Here we systemically reviewed the recent advances in analytical methods. A critical evaluation of the strength and weaknesses of these methods was provided, together with possible solutions to the difficulties. Mass spectrometry with or without robust chromatographic separation was increasingly employed. And scientists have made significant progress in simplifying polysaccharide quantification by depolymerizing it into oligosaccharides. This oligosaccharides-based strategy is promising for qualitative and quantitative analysis of polysaccharides. And continuous efforts are still needed to develop a standardized quality control method that is specific, accurate, repeatable, and applicable for analyzing individual components in natural medicine formulas.
天然药物来源的多糖作为安全有效的天然混合物，具有开发成植物药的巨大潜力。然而，只有一个基于多糖的案例符合植物药产品的植物药指导定义。原因之一是，常用于多糖定性和定量分析的分析方法远远落后于植物药的质量控制标准。在这里，我们系统地回顾了分析方法的最新进展。对这些方法的优缺点进行了批判性评估，并提出了解决困难的可能方案。具有或不具有强大色谱分离的质谱分析越来越多地被使用。科学家们在通过将多糖解聚成寡糖来简化多糖定量方面取得了重大进展。这种基于寡糖的策略有望用于多糖的定性和定量分析。仍需要继续努力开发一种标准化的质量控制方法，该方法具有特异性、准确性、重复性和适用于分析天然药物配方中单个成分的能力。
