Detection of Actaea racemosa Adulteration by Thin-Layer Chromatography and Combined Thin-Layer Chromatography-Bioluminescence

Abstract

Actaea racemosa L. (black cohosh; syn. Cimicifuga racemosa L. Nutt.) is a native North American perennial whose root and rhizome preparations are commercially available as phytomedicines and dietary supplements, primarily for management of menopausal symptoms. Despite its wide use, methods that accurately identify processed A. racemosa are not well established; product adulteration remains a concern. Because of its similar appearance and growing locales, A. racemosa has been unintentionally mixed with other species of the genus, such as Actaea pachypoda Ell. (white cohosh) and more commonly Actaea podocarpa DC. (yellow cohosh). The genus Actaea also has 23 temperate species with numerous common names, which can also contribute to the misidentification of plant material. Consequently, a variety of Actaea spp. are common adulterants of commercially available black cohosh preparations. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and combined TLC-bioluminescence (Bioluminex) are efficient, economical, and effective techniques which provide characteristic patterns and toxicity profiles for each plant species. These data indicate that common black cohosh adulterants, such as yellow cohosh, can be differentiated from black cohosh by TLC and TLC-bioluminescence. This study also showed that unknown contaminants that were not detected using standard A. racemosa identity techniques were readily detected by TLC and TLC-bioluminescence.

Hyperspectral Imaging and Support Vector Machine: A Powerful Combination to Differentiate Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) from Other Cohosh Species

“…Due to increased trade between China and the United States, overlap in the distribution area and the similar appearance of the leaves of some species, adulteration and misidentification have occurred. Three Actaea species, including Actaea cimicifuga L., are all known by a common Chinese name shengma, and they are also used interchangeably to treat inflammation and other ailments, but they are not used to treat symptoms associated with menopause [10,13]. Adulteration of black cohosh is rife and at least 30 % of purchased samples are adulterated according the AHPA and the BHMA.…”

“…Various techniques have previously been applied in the quality assessment of Actaea species and these include HPLC, HPLC-MS, HPTLC, LC-MS, and HPLC-PDA [13,17,18]. Although these methods are very useful, the time required for each analysis is one of the disadvantages for routine analysis.…”

TLC-Direct Bioautography as a High Throughput Method for Detection of Antimicrobials in Plants

“…The developed TLC plate is immersed in a bacterial broth inoculated with luminescent bacteria and almost immediately observed at 490 nm under cooled CCD camera. The changes in emission of blue-green light (darker or brighter zones), related to disturbance in vital cell processes, indicate the presence of toxic substances [12,15,24,29,30] ( Figure 1). The image conversion and spreadsheet programs enable data interpretation [31].…”

Plant Analysis 2008 – Planar Chromatography

“…This effect can be monitored and documented under controlled conditions with the BioLuminizer [54]. The test has been successfully used to detect adulteration of medicinal plants [55]. Great progress has been made in hyphenating planar chromatography with mass spectrometry (MS).…”