Alpha- and beta-asarone in herbal medicinal products. A case study.

The composition of pellets and tablets, which were sold as the preparations of Chinese natural medicine, was studied. The drugs were seized by the police due to the intoxication of a young woman. Analyses were performed by GC-MS (HP-5 ms column) and by HPLC (RP-18e Chromolith(®) monolithic column). Diverse content of asarone isomers was found in the tested material. The dose of alpha-asarone ranged from 0.49 to 42.5 μg per pellet, while its average concentration in the tablets was 51.4 μg. Beta-asarone was not detected in the pellets with low content of alpha isomer (below 1 μg), while its content in the remaining pellets ranged from 142 to 645 μg. The tablets contained higher doses of beta-asarone (1526 μg in average). The total content of asarones in most of the examined pellets and tablets exceeded 115 μg, which is the maximum acceptable daily intake. Taking into account the dosage written on packages that ranged from several to more than ten pellets/tablets a day, one can assume that the intake of such doses of asarone might be health-threatening.