Quality Assessment of Herbal Medicinal Products in Benign Prostate Hypertrophy: Chemical Markers and Fingerprint Analysis

Abstract

Herbal products with beneficial influence on BPH have been widely used. These herbal preparations include the extracts of Serenoa repens and/or Pumpkin seed oil. Chemical markers are crucial in the quality control of herbal medicines and construct with chromatographic fingerprint a powerful tool for quality assessment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of herbal formulations used to treat BPH in Syrian local market by identifying fatty acids profile and tocopherols, besides analyzing fingerprint of methanol extracts. For this purpose, GC/MS analysis has been applied. The fatty acids content was consistent with the quality requirements in four samples. α and γ tocopherols content was in agreement of previous studies between 181-875 µg/g with the exception of one sample reached 77.5 µg/g for both α and γ tocopherol. Chromatographic fingerprint revealed the shortage of ∆7 phytosterols in pumpkin seed oil samples and the presence of parabens in one of them. The absence of Luaric acid in one sample was confirmed with chromatographic fingerprint. The results have highlighted on the importance of combining active markers with chromatographic fingerprint as a suitable technique for quality evaluation of herbal products as well efficiency and safety.