Quality evaluation and toxicity assay for injectable traditional Chinese medicine using Microtox technology

Injectable traditional Chinese medicine often contains multiple components including undefined toxic substances, can have high variability between batches, with undefined mechanisms of action. It is urgent to improve the quality and consistency and reduce the toxicity risk of traditional Chinese medicine. The Microtox technology is a simple, rapid method for the detection of toxic substances in the environment that uses non-pathogenic luminescent bacteria as an indicator, and the change in luminosity as an index. Using this bioassay we have systematically applied Microtox technology for the detection of microtoxicity in injectable traditional Chinese medicine. As a new method of bioactivity characterization, Microtox technology is expected to be used in the detection of quality fluctuations and toxicity risks at an early stage in the preparation of injectable traditional Chinese medicines and to improve the quality of injectable traditional Chinese medicine.