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Baphicacanthus cusia (Nees) Bremek has a rich historical significance in China. Its stems and leaves have been used for traditional Chinese medicine or a dye called Qing-Dai in Chinese, while its roots are referred to as Nan-Ban-Lan-Gen in Chinese after processing. Both have been recognized and documented in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Modern pharmacological studies have revealed that B. cusia has numerous bioactive properties, such as antitumor, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, and neuroprotective properties. Moreover, B. cusia has been employed in clinical settings for its antitumor activity. The pivotal bioactive compounds in B. cusia are indirubin, indigo, and tryptanthrin. These potent substances and their derivatives demonstrate antitumor effects through inducing cell cycle arrest, triggering programmed cell death, inhibiting metastasis, and overcoming multidrug resistance. Nonetheless, the metabolic pathway of these compounds, particularly indole alkaloids, in B. cusia remains inadequately investigated. To increase the production of indole alkaloids such as indirubin and indigo, various biosynthetic approaches are employed. Consequently, this review discusses the bioactive compounds present in B. cusia, and elucidates their antitumor mechanisms, metabolism, and biosynthesis pathway. Existing studies indicate that B. cusia is a crucial medicinal plant harboring numerous biologically active substances, and its exploitation and application hold significant potential for substantial economic gains.

Background: Herbal products have been commonly used all over the world for centuries. Its products have gained remarkable acceptance as therapeutic agents for a variety of disorders. However, following recent research disclosing discrepancies between labeling and actual components of herbal products, there is growing concern about the efficacy, quality and safety of the products. The admixture and adulteration of herbal medicinal products pose a risk of serious health compromise and the well-being of the consumers. To prevent adulteration in raw ingredients and final herbal products, it is necessary to use approaches to assess both genomes as well as metabolomics of the products; this offers quality assurance in terms of product identification and purity. The combinations of molecular and analytical methods are inevitable for thorough verification and quality control of herbal medicine., Methods and Results: This review discusses the combination of DNA barcoding, DNA metabarcoding, mass spectroscopy as well as HPLC for the authentication of herbal medicine and determination of the level of adulteration. It also discusses the roles of PCR and real-time PCR techniques in validating and ensuring the quality, purity and identity of the herbal products., Conclusions: In conclusion, each technique has its own pros and cons, but the cumulative of both the chemical and molecular methods is proven to be the best strategy for adulteration detection. Moreover, CRISPR diagnosis tools equipped with multiplexing techniques may be implemented for screening adulteration from herbal drugs, this will play a crucial role in herbal product authentication in the future., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)