Assessment of the Cytotoxicity, Mutagenicity, and Genotoxicity of Two Traditional Chinese Herbs: and .

Herbal remedies used in traditional medicine often contain several compounds combined in order to potentiate their own intrinsic properties. However, herbs can sometimes cause serious health troubles. In Belgium, patients who developed severe aristolochic acid nephropathy ingested slimming pills containing root extracts of an species, as well as the bark of .

Biological activity and toxicity of the Chinese herb Magnolia officinalis Rehder & E. Wilson (Houpo) and its constituents.

Traditional Chinese herbal drugs have been used for thousands of years in Chinese pharmacopoeia. The bark of Magnolia officinalis Rehder & E. Wilson, known under the pinyin name "Houpo", has been traditionally used in Chinese and Japanese medicines for the treatment of anxiety, asthma, depression, gastrointestinal disorders, headache, and more.

In vitro genotoxicity tests point to an unexpected and harmful effect of a Magnolia and Aristolochia association.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: in the 1990s, a Belgian cohort of more than 100 patients reported cases of Aristolochic Acid Nephropathy (AAN). This progressive renal and interstitial fibrosis, frequently associated with urothelial malignancies, was consecutive to the Chinese-herbs based slimming capsules intake where a plant Stephania tetrandra S. Moore was replaced by a highly genotoxic Aristolochia species.