Chinese Medicinal Plants Authentication and Conservation Centre (CMPACC)

What is CMPACC?

The Chinese Medicinal Plants Authentication Centre (CMPACC) at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew offers an authentication service for a wide and increasing range of Chinese herbs currently available on the international market.

The aim of the service is to encourage:

• safer Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) in the West, hence protection for patients
• a scientific platform for the development of herbal quality assurance regulations
• responsible CHM trading and manufacturing
• improved professional standing of CHM in the West
• a training resource for CHM colleges
• conservation of Chinese medicinal plants

CMPACC is not a regulatory body controlling the availability of herbs on the market; instead CMPACC aims to provide an independent, not-for-profit scientific service for a wide range of users.

CMPACC's main activities

In China: Creation of plant reference collections:

• harvesting from the field (from 16 Chinese provinces visited to date)
• creation of cross-referenced herbarium specimens
• drug processing (creation of materia medica)

In UK:

Management of reference collections:

• verification of herbarium specimens (using experts in the Kew Herbarium)
• curation and storage of crude and prepared materia medica

Laboratory programme:

• Analytical validation of published authentication methods
• Research into design of new authentication methods
• Provision of Authentication Service

Collaboration

CMPACC's main collaborator in China is the Institute of Medicinal Plant Development (IMPLAD), Beijing. Their expertise in all aspects of materia medica from collection to processing ensures the CMPACC reference collections are both accurate and representative.

What kind of service do we offer?

CMPACC provides an authentication service primarily to confirm the identity of Chinese medicinal herbs.

In addition, CMPACC aims, where possible, to evaluate the quality of these herbs. By 'quality' we mean chemical quality; for example, determining whether a herb has been appropriately processed by examining its chemical make-up or 'fingerprint'.

What Test Methods do we offer?

All testing is carried out on site at RBG Kew's Jodrell Laboratories and undertaken by Kew's dedicated specialists in the fields of plant anatomy, plant chemistry and molecular systematics.

Test methods used may comprise one or more of the following:

• Organoleptic tests (gross morphology, taste, fracture, smell)

• Microscopic examination

• Chemical analysis (chemical fingerprinting using one or more of the following techniques:

  • Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC)

  • High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)

  • Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)

  • Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)

• DNA finger-printing

How much material do you need to send us for analysis?

Usually 20-30g is sufficient.

What kind of medicinal preparations can we handle?

Aware of the many different forms in which CHM remedies may be presented, we accept samples in all forms:

• dried herbs (crude)
• dried herbs (processed/Yin Pian)
• extracts: powders, tablets, tinctures
• single or multi-ingredient preparations (patent or non-patent)

CMPACC laboratory testing concentrates on chemical analysis. Unless the herb in question is particularly distinctive, organoleptic tests are not used in isolation. Such identification characters are often difficult to quantify.

An example of recent authentification research by CMPACC is the development of a detection method for nephrotoxic aristolochic acids (Kite G.C. et al. 2002. Detecting aristolochic acids in herbal remedies by liquid chromatography/serial mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 16(6): 585-590).

Reporting

Our authentication/quality control reports may include:

• Herbal identifications with plant names provided in Latin and Pin Yin

• Presence/absence data for specified toxins (e.g. aristolochic acids, aconitine alkaloids, psoralens)

• Detection of herbal processing procedures

• Other specialist services: e.g. investigation and identification of rare, substitute, fake, confused or adulterated herbs

• Technical and non-technical interpretation of results.

Confidentiality

CMPACCC offers a totally independent and confidential service.

How much will it cost?

Authentification/quality tests range between £85-250 per sample. Discounts are available for 3 or more equivalent samples undergoing simultaneous testing. Costs might be waived if a method is still being developed and/or the customer allows us to use the results (anonymously if requested) for scientific publications.

Resources available to CMPACC

CMPACC has access to a wide range of specialists at Kew, including taxonomists, chemists, anatomists and molecular biologists, together with extensive collections of herbarium and living plant specimens, and literature. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is internationally recognised as a pre-eminent botanical institution. By combining the wide range of botanical and chemical skills of Kew staff with those of its collaborators in China, CMPACC is ideally supported and located to develop a high quality Authentication Service for Chinese herbs.

How do I contact CMPACC?

Email or write to Christine Leon, Head, Chinese Medicinal Plants Authentication Centre, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE.

Fax No. 020 8332 3717
Email: cmpac@kew.org

Links to other interesting websites:

Register for Chinese Herbal Medicine (UK)
The Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Chinese Medicine Advisory Service
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
Yellow card Scheme for reporting adverse reactions:
IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species