Planta Medica International Open 2017; 4(S 01): S1-S202
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1608586
Lecture Session – Quality Control
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Hypericum perforatum – a comparison of commercial samples using DNA-barcoding and chemical approaches

F Scotti
1   Research Cluster Biodiversity and Medicines/Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, UCL School of Pharmacy, WC1N 1AX, London, United Kingdom
,
P Mali
2   School of Allied Health Sciences, De Montfort University, The Gateway, LE1 9BH, Leicester, United Kingdom
,
E Masiero
2   School of Allied Health Sciences, De Montfort University, The Gateway, LE1 9BH, Leicester, United Kingdom
,
A Booker
1   Research Cluster Biodiversity and Medicines/Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, UCL School of Pharmacy, WC1N 1AX, London, United Kingdom
3   Division of Herbal and East Asian Medicine, Department of Life Sciences, University of Westminster 3Division of Herbal and East Asian Medicine, Department of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, W1W 6UW, London, United Kingdom
,
T Sgamma
2   School of Allied Health Sciences, De Montfort University, The Gateway, LE1 9BH, Leicester, United Kingdom
,
C Howard
4   4BP-NIBSC Herbal Laboratory, National Institute for Biological Standards and Controls, Blanche LAne, South Mimms, EN6 3QG, Potters Bar, United Kingdom
,
A Agapouda
1   Research Cluster Biodiversity and Medicines/Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, UCL School of Pharmacy, WC1N 1AX, London, United Kingdom
,
D Frommenwiler
5   CAMAG, Sonnenmattstrasse 11, 4132, Muttenz, Switzerland
,
E Reich
5   CAMAG, Sonnenmattstrasse 11, 4132, Muttenz, Switzerland
,
A Slater
2   School of Allied Health Sciences, De Montfort University, The Gateway, LE1 9BH, Leicester, United Kingdom
,
M Heinrich
1   Research Cluster Biodiversity and Medicines/Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, UCL School of Pharmacy, WC1N 1AX, London, United Kingdom
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
24 October 2017 (online)

 

Adulterated herbal products are a serious concern and recently DNA-based techniques have come to a wider attention as a novel tool. The aim of the project is to establish a distinguishable method in the identification of plant material and in quality control. In this study we analysed 20 commercial Hypericum perforatum L. (HP; [1]) products, combining chemical and genetic techniques: NMR-based metabolomics combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and HPTLC analysis [2] and DNA-barcoding.

HPTLC analysis confirmed 50% of the samples to be HP, with the remainder differing from the HP chromatographic description and identified as “Chinese SJW”. NMR-PCA analysis mostly agrees with the HPTLC findings, grouping the allegedly “Chinese SJW” together. DNA-barcoding confirmed the identity of three HP samples. Specific PCR tests gave a positive signal with a further three HP samples but also with three “Chinese SJW” samples.

While the chemical methods, as expected, agree with each other, DNA-barcoding identification was limited by the ability to extract viable DNA from all samples. The design of more specific primers to distinguish HP from “Chinese SJW” is now required. A combination of DNA and chemical methods will confer a higher degree of certainty and can be extended to other herbal medicines.

A charitable donation by Fa. Schwabe (Germany) is gratefully acknowledged.

[1] McCutcheon, M. 2017. Hypericum perforatum Botanical Adulterants Bulletin January 2017. www.botanicaladulterants.org

[2] Booker, A, Jalil B, Frommenwiler D, Reich E, Zhai L, Kulic Z, Heinrich M. 2016. Phytomedicine 23: 754 – 762