Study of Commercially Available Lobelia chinensis Products Using Bar-HRM Technology

Abstract

There is an unmet need for herbal medicine identification using a fast, sensitive, and easy-to-use method that does not require complex infrastructure and well-trained technicians. For instance, the detection of adulterants in Lobelia chinensis herbal product has been challenging, since current detection technologies are not effective due to their own limits. High Resolution Melting (HRM) has emerged as a powerful new technology for clinical diagnosis, research in the food industry and in plant molecular biology, and this method has already highlighted the complexity of species identification. In this study, we developed a method of species specific detection of L. chinensis using HRM analysis combined with internal transcribed spacer 2. We then applied this method to commercial products purporting to contain L. chinensis. Our results demonstrated that HRM can differentiate L. chinensis from six common adulterants. HRM was proven to be a fast and accurate technique for testing the authenticity of L. chinensis in herbal products. Based on these results, a HRM approach for herbal authentication is provided.

Self-treatment and adverse reactions with herbal products for treating symptoms associated with anxiety and depression in adults from the central-western region of Mexico during the Covid-19 pandemic

“…This might represent a potential health risk for consumers ( Geck et al, 2020 ). DNA barcoding and high-resolution melting have been used to distinguish the classification of an unknown plant sample ( Kress et al, 2005 ; Pang et al, 2013 ; Sun et al, 2017 ). These techniques should be implemented in the Mexican pharmacopeia to guarantee the quality and safety of herbal products sold in Mexico.…”

Candidate DNA Barcode Tags Combined With High Resolution Melting (Bar-HRM) Curve Analysis for Authentication of Senna alexandrina Mill. With Validation in Crude Drugs

“…Thus the prior characterization of the target plant group through DNA barcoding studies is a prerequisite. Hitherto, several studies have reported its potential application in different plant species ( Ganopoulos et al, 2012 ; Kalivas et al, 2014 ; Schmiderer et al, 2015 ; Song et al, 2016 ; Sun et al, 2016 , 2017 ; Meistertzheim et al, 2017 ; Mishra et al, 2017 ). S. alexandrina is well known for its laxative properties and high export value as a bulk herb in trade from India.…”

Using SSR-HRM to Identify Closely Related Species in Herbal Medicine Products: A Case Study on Licorice

“…Advanced molecular techniques enable researchers to use DNA to analyze samples of many different origins. To date techniques such as amplified fragment length polymorphism ( Shaw et al, 2009 ), sequence characterized amplified regions ( Theerakulpisut et al, 2008 ; Kiran et al, 2010 ), DNA barcoding ( Chen S. et al, 2010 ; Pang et al, 2013 ), loop-mediated isothermal amplification ( Li et al, 2016b ; Zhao et al, 2016 ), and high resolution melting (HRM) ( Li et al, 2016a ; Osathanunkul et al, 2016 ; Sun et al, 2017 ) have been widely used to identify medicinal plants. Of these techniques, DNA barcoding offers fast, sensitive, and accurate identification of plant species in a wide variety of herbal products.…”