| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1220877 | Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis | 2014 | 20 Pages |
•TCMs attract worldwide attention for their holistic effects.•Complexity of TCM in bio-matrix requires high selectivity and sensitivity analytical methods.•New trends in determination of constituents of TCMs in body fluids during 2007–2013 are reviewed.•Current review provides the proper examples for TCM pharmacokinetic study.
Although traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) play important role in drug discovery and human health, the actual value of TCMs has not been fully recognized worldwide due to its complex components and uncontrollable quality. For the modernization and globalization of TCMs, it is important to establish selective, sensitive and feasible analytical methods for determination and quantification of bioactive components of TCMs in body fluids primarily due to the low concentration, the complex nature of the biological matrices, and multi-components and their metabolites present in biological fluids. The present review summarizes the current extraction techniques, chromatographic separation and spectroscopic (especially mass spectrometric) analysis methods and new trends on the analysis of bioactive components and metabolites of TCMs in biological fluids. In addition, the importance of establishment of pharmacokinetics and bioavailability profiles and simultaneous determination of multi-active components in TCMs is discussed to provide proper examples of analytical methods for pharmacological and clinical studies of TCMs.
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