Phytochemical variation: How to resolve the quality controversies of herbal medicinal products?

Plants and plant products possess therapeutic potential and are duly utilized for the production of traditional as well as modern medicines worldwide. It is evident that the chemical composition of a plant and possible synergy of its constituents impart therapeutic potential to a plant or plant product(s) (HMPs). However, genomic composition, developmental stage and ambient environmental conditions often cause spatio-temporal variation in the chemical profile of plants. Likewise, harvesting techniques, post-harvest processing, storage conditions, widespread use of pesticides, frequent adulteration and microbial contamination also cause a notable variation in chemical profile of medicinal plant material. The occurrence of phytochemical variation in plant material obtained from different geobiological sources eventually induce discrepancies in its therapeutic profile. Consequently a variation in chemical composition and therapeutic profile of plant material causes routine complications for the validation of therapeutic efficiency and safety of HMPs. With the global upsurge in the usage of HMPs together with the concurrent reports on chemical variation, adulteration and safety concerns there is an urgent need to institute regulatory and diagnostic measures to meet the objectives of WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023. In this regard, DNA based diagnosis and quantitative profiling of chemical markers accompanied by conventional purity measurements should provide a complete set of quality assurance for medicinal plant material and HMPs. The implementation of an integrated approach of DNA barcoding and quantitative metabolomics has therefore become essential to ascertain potency, purity, consistency and safety of medicinal plants as well as HMPs practised in traditional medicine systems such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kampo and other systems of traditional medicines worldwide. (C) 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.