Chios mastic, is the resinous secretion obtained from the wounds of the trunk and branches of P. lentiscus L. var. Chia, which is endemic to the Greek island of Chios [1]. Since antiquity (500 BC), Chios Mastic has been well recorded for its medicinal and pharmaceutical properties. From 1997, Chios mastic has been identified as a product of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) while cultivating mastic has been inscribed by UNESCO in 2014 in its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In July 2015, mastic was recognized as a traditional medicinal product by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) with two therapeutic indications (mild dyspeptic disorders & skin inflammation/ healing of minor wounds) [2]. In the frame of a continuation study on Pistacia sp. an integrated, complementary bottom up approach has been designed. This approach includes isolation of active, marker compounds from starting material with fast and state-of-the-art techniques (CPC-UV, SFC-UV-MS); profiling and characterisation of composition via multiple analytical methods (HPTLC, HPLC-DAD, UPLC-HRMS & HRMS/MS & NMR); and validation of methods for quality control purposes. Additionally, pharmacokinetic characteristics of major mastic constituents have been determined after a human cohort and metabolomics approaches (LC-MS and NMR) have been implemented for revealing of biomarkers. The current work could be considered as an example of a complete workflow implemented in medicinal plants, from the natural entity to human organism.
References:
[1] Bozorgi M, Memariani Z, Mobli M, Hossein M, Surmaghi S, Shams-Ardekani MR, & Rahimi R. Sci. World J, 2013, 1–33.
[2] http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/Herbal_-_HMPC_assessment_report/2015/07/WC500190097.pdf