シャタバリ製品の基原種鑑別法の開発と同法を利用した日本市場品の実態調査

概要

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Shatavari is a famous Ayurveda materia medica used as a tonic for woman, and its health food products have been distributed in Japan. The botanical origin of shatavari is specified as the tuberous root of Asparagus racemosus in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. However, several reports have pointed out that Stemona plants were sold as shatavari sometimes in markets in Southeast Asia and China because the shape of the tuberous root of A. racemosus was very similar to that of Stemona plants. Since most Stemona plants are rich in alkaloids, the contamination of the plant source species in shatavari products may cause various physical disorders to consumers. In the course of our study for the safety evaluations of health foods made from medicinal plants, we investigated the botanical origin of shatavari products obtained in Japanese markets on the basis of DNA sequence analysis. As a result, botanical origin of all products were revealed to be Asparagus. In order to confirm whether these products contained Stemona or not, ARMS-PCR method using Stemona-specific primers was performed. The application data indicated that none of the examined products contained Stemona plants at a concentration of >1%. ARMS-PCR method shown here is expected to be useful for quality control of shatavari products to check contamination of source plants.
2011-12-15