OBJECTIVETo review the current status of the determination of the bacterial endotoxin in traditional chinese medicine injections with the limulus lysate test, and to evaluate the feasibility of this test for the determination of the bacterial endotoxin in these injections.

METHODThe data related to the topic was collected, analyzed and summarized.

RESULTThe limulus lysate test was not available for most of traditional chinese medicine injections due to the interference. And the same injection may uield different test results because of different factories, batch numbers, different techniques and preparational conditions.

CONCLUSIONThere is still a long way to go to apply the limulus lysate test to the determination of the bacterial endotoxin in traditional chinese medicine injections.

Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Endotoxins ; analysis ; Limulus Test ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry