Teratogenicity and developmental toxicity of herbal products

Developmental toxicology and research in teratogenicity focus on xenobiotic substances that damage embryos and fetuses and lead to death, growth retardation, and/or malformation of offspring. While considerable information has been acquired about synthetic drugs and environmental xenobiotics, much less is known about the teratogenicity of herbal products. In this chapter we report on some major topics of developmental toxicity and teratogenicity, and discuss the safety of a few selected medicinal herbs in this context, i.e., Artemisia annua L., Caulophyllum thalictroides (L.) Michx., Echinacea spec,. Glycyrrhiza spec., herbs derived from Chinese medicine, Hypericum perforatum L., Panax ginseng C.A.Mey., Valeriana officinalis L., and Zingiber officinale Roscoe. Due to insufficient information on most herbal products, their safe use during pregnancy remains uncertain. Toxicological research for the professional development of safe herbal products should include •Measures of quality control (botanical, organoleptic, chemical, and molecular biological plant identification as well as standardization of cultivation, harvesting, and production processes and chemical constitution) •Identification of both pharmacological and toxicological modes of actions by means of state-of-the-art methods •Testing for the toxicity of herbal products in silico, in vitro, and in animal experiments.