ABSTRACT
Cimicifugae Rhizoma originated from Shennong′s Classic of Materia Medica（《神农本草经》）. Before the Jin-Yuan period （1115-1368 AD）， the efficacy of Cimicifugae Rhizoma was clearing heat and removing toxin whether it was recorded in herbal works or medical formularies. Since ZHANG Yuan-su in the Jin-Yuan period， its efficacy has changed， and that of raising Yang Qi has begun to appear. LI Dong-yuan and WANG Hao-gu followed ZHANG Yuan-su's point of view， and did not realize the efficacy of clearing heat and removing toxin and regarded Cimicifugae Rhizoma as a representative medicine for raising Yang Qi. During the Ming and Qing dynasties， the efficacy of Cimicifugae Rhizoma was mainly divided into two categories： both clearing heat and removing toxin and raising Yang Qi， and raising Yang Qi only. In modern times， the efficacy realized by previous generations is criticized， and two views emerge. One is inheriting the two-way theory of both clearing heat and removing toxin and raising Yang Qi. The other is that Cimicifugae Rhizoma is purely the medicine for clearing heat and removing toxin and its efficacy of raising Yang Qi is firmly refuted， which conforms to that of Cimicifugae Rhizoma before the Jin-Yuan period， and is also supported by Japanese scholars. Chinese Pharmacopoeia （1985） concludes that Cimicifugae Rhizoma has three major functions： releasing exterior and promoting eruption， clearing heat and removing toxin， and raising Yang Qi， which represents the current mainstream understanding of Cimicifugae Rhizoma in the academic world. Some contemporary scholars， including clinical physicians， medical historians， and pharmacists， still object to the raising Yang Qi of Cimicifugae Rhizoma. This article systematically sorted out the origin and changes of the efficacy of Cimicifugae Rhizoma， and analyzed the reasons for the changes. Combining philosophical thinking and modern pharmacology research， the authors also believe that Cimicifugae Rhizoma can not raise Yang Qi .
ABSTRACT
The SIMILAR TO RCD-ONE (SROs) have been characterized as a group of plant-specific proteins which play importantfunctions in stress responses and development. Here, we analyze the expression profiles of six SRO genes under differentstress treatments in Arabidopsis. Our results revealed that RCD1 play an essential role in plant responses to variousenvironmental stresses. SRO1 has partially overlapping functions with RCD1 in plant response to HgCl2 and H2O2 stress.Analysis of the transcriptional expression of SROs indicated that both of the RCD1 and SRO1 transcripts were up-regulatedby HgCl2 and light, not by other stresses, and that of SRO5 was induced by salt. Expression of SRO3 and SRO4 were notinfluenced by stresses. The different effects of these stresses on the expression of the SRO genes indicate that the SROfamily is regulated by multiple signaling pathways. Sequence analyses of the SRO proteins implicate a highly preservedprotein structure and are specific to plants, which might have implications for functional conservation. The ubiquitousexpression and nuclear localization of SRO family suggested that their function might be related to transcription factorregulation and complex formation. Taken together, SRO family is critical for proper plant development and multiple stressresponses.