Table 1 Quality control interests and disadvantages of chemical markers
From: Chemical markers for the quality control of herbal medicines: an overview
Category | Quality control interests | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
Therapeutic components | Indicating efficacy | Not always obtained |
Toxic components | Safety assurance | Need extensive toxicological studies |
Bioactive components | May indicate efficacy | Not always indicate the overall quality |
Main components | Stability and consistency test | Not always indicate the overall quality |
Characteristic components | Qualitative identification | Not always obtained |
Synergistic components | Revealing synergistic actions of multi-components | Need extensive pharmacological studies |
Correlative components | Prediction of storage period, extraction methods and sometimes collection site etc. | Need extensive phytochemical studies |
General components used together with fingerprint spectrum | Indicating overall quality when used together with fingerprint spectrum | Mass data analysis |