Pharmazie
-
Stachydrine ((2S)-1,1-dimethylpyrrolidinium-2-carboxylic acid) may be regarded as an essential active principle of the aerial parts of Leonurus japonicus Houtt. (Leonuri herba, yimucao; Chin. Ph., DAB) which are used in TCM and Kampo for the treatment of various gynaecological and cardiovascular disorders. Medically and botanically closely related Lamioideae drugs are the fruits of L. japonicus (Leonuri fructus, chongweizi; Chin. ⋯ These measurements of 12 drug samples revealed stachydrine contents (w/w) of 0.2 to 1.0% for the L. japonicus aerial parts, 0.6 to 1.5 % for the L. cardiaca aerial parts, 6.7% for the antiarrhythmic refined extract of L. cardiaca, and 0.3% for the aerial parts of Leonotis leonurus, while both L. japonicus and L. cardiaca fruits contained, on average, 0.2 %. Furthermore, stachydrine was found for the first time as a constituent of L. japonicus and L. cardiaca fruits as well as Leonotis leonurus. Methodically, instrumental HPTLC may be a powerful tool for quality assurance for stachydrine containing plants and herbal drugs, especially for industrial routine protocols.
-
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) can show a hazardous potential for men and animals. They can act as cancerogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and fetotoxic agents. One pathway of a human intoxication is its occurence as contaminants in food and feed. ⋯ Milk can contain PAs in case the milk producing animals have access to contaminated feed. In this context it is of special interest whether the PA content of contaminated silage remains stable during the ensiling procedure or show a more or less high level of decomposition. We could show that ensiling will not lead to PA-free silage.