中藥中重金屬元素之檢驗技術發展趨勢

Trend and Progress of Heavy Metal Elements Analysis in Traditional Chinese Medicine

中藥主要來自天然的動植物體，被認為具有天然、安全的特性。近年來隨著醫藥發展，民眾已經逐漸提高使用傳統中醫醫療的意願，但由於中藥材大多來自其他國家進口，且在國內市場販賣時大多已是加工成品。因此中藥中有害物質的品質控管和用藥安全是目前國內醫藥領域的重要議題，特別是針對中藥重金屬汙染的品質管制，國際組織或不同地區對於中藥中的砷、鎘、汞、鉛、銅、鉻等元素皆有建立最大殘留容許量。而中藥中毒性較高的微量金屬元素，目前檢驗方法以微波輔助酸消化法結合感應耦合電漿質譜儀或感應耦合電漿放射光譜儀為主流，具備簡單、快速、靈敏度高等優點，本文將介紹目前中藥中常見的重金屬危害以及檢驗方法之發展。 Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) comes from animal or plant parts and is generally considered as natural and safe. In recent years, people are willing to accept TCM with the progress in medical science. Most raw materials of TCM import from other countries and are sold in processed products in domestic markets. Therefore, the safety and quality control of toxic materials in TCM gradually becomes an important issue in Taiwan, especially the heavy metals contamination. Maximum residue limits (MRLs) for arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, copper, and chromium in TCM have been established in different international organizations or local area. Nowadays microwave assisted acid digestion combined with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) or inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) is a popular method applied to analyze those trace and toxic metals in TCM. It is easy, quick and highly sensitive. This article reviews the hazard of toxic heavy metal elements and the progress of its analytical methods.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) comes from animal or plant parts and is generally considered as natural and safe. In recent years, people are willing to accept TCM with the progress in medical science. Most raw materials of TCM import from other countries and are sold in processed products in domestic markets. Therefore, the safety and quality control of toxic materials in TCM gradually becomes an important issue in Taiwan, especially the heavy metals contamination. Maximum residue limits (MRLs) for arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, copper, and chromium in TCM have been established in different international organizations or local area. Nowadays microwave assisted acid digestion combined with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) or inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) is a popular method applied to analyze those trace and toxic metals in TCM. It is easy, quick and highly sensitive. This article reviews the hazard of toxic heavy metal elements and the progress of its analytical methods.