Kinetics and variation of volatile components of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma during hot-air drying / 中国中药杂志

The present study explored the kinetics and variation of volatile components of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma during the hot-air drying process to obtain the optimal process parameters under multiple goals such as drying efficiency and drying quality. The dry basis moisture content and drying rate curves along with the change of drying time of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma were investigated at five levels of drying air temperatures(30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 ℃). The relationship between moisture ratio and time in the drying process of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma was fitted and verified by Midilli model, Page model, Overhults model, Modified Page model, Logaritmic model, Two terms Exponential model, and Newton model. Meanwhile, the effective diffusion coefficient of moisture(D_(eff)) and activation energy(E_a) in Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma were calculated under different drying air temperatures. GC-MS was used to determine the volatile components and content changes of the fresh Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and dried products at different temperatures. The dry basis moisture content and drying rate of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma were closely related to the temperature of the drying medium, and the moisture of the Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma decreased with the prolonged drying time. As revealed by the drying rate curve, the drying rate increased with the increase in hot air temperature, and the migration of moisture was accelerated. The comparison of the correlation coefficient(R~2), chi-square(χ~2), and root mean standard error(RMSE) of each model indicated that the parameter average of the Midilli model had the highest degree of fit, with R~2=0.999 2, χ~2=8.78×10~(-5), and RMSE=8.20×10~(-3). Besides, the D_(eff) at 30-70 ℃ was in the range of 1.04×10~(-9)-6.28×10~(-9) m~2·s~(-1), and E_a was 37.47 kJ·mol~(-1). The volatile components of fresh Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and dried products at different temperatures were determined by GC-MS, and 18, 18, 18, 17, 17, and 18 compounds were identified respectively, which accounted for more than 84.76% of the volatile components. In conclusion, the hot-air drying of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma can be model-fitted and verified and the variation law of the moisture and volatile components of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma with temperature is obtained. This study is expected to provide new ideas for exploring the drying characteristics and quality of aromatic Chinese medicine.

Research advances in drug resistance mechanisms of bacterial biofilm and natural drug intervention / 中国中药杂志

Drug resistance resulting from bacterial biofilms can invalidate antibacterial agents. Therefore,eradicating bacterial biofilms to reverse drug resistance is a hotspot in the pharmaceutical research. In recent years,numerous studies have revealed the complicated mechanism of bacterial biofilm formation and strong drug resistance with multiple influential factors involved. This paper gives a comprehensive review on the process of biofilm formation and intervention by natural drugs,which can provide some reference and evidence for the following studies.

Classification of Chinese Medicines Containing Volatile Oil and Analysis of Quality Influencing Factors Based on Fist Part in Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2015 Edition / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Volatile oil is widely distributed in Chinese medicinal materials,which contains rich chemical compositions and has a variety of pharmacological activities such as anti-bacterial,anti-inflammatory,anti-oxidant,anti-tumor,transdermal absorption and antalgic activities,etc.In recent years,the research on the Chinese medicines containing volatile oil is increasing,showing a wide prospect of application in clinical medicine,health care,daily products development,etc.Volatile oil of traditional Chinese medicine has poor solubility,volatility and unstable properties.Factors such as species,harvesting seasons,extraction methods,processing technologies and storage conditions would affect the compositions and contents of volatile oil,thus directly affecting its efficacy,safety and quality stability.Hence,it is especially necessary to control the volatile oil content.The current 2015 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia has made a lot of regulations on the quality control of Chinese medicines containing volatile oil,but generally does not provide the lowest and highest concentrations of volatile oil.As the volatile oil of traditional Chinese medicines has good biological activity and the quality standards are not yet perfect,this study would take the Fist Part of Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2015 Edition as the data source to determine the species of Chinese medicines containing volatile oils through literature research and pharmacopoeia description;the functions,indications,and sources of 196 kinds of traditional Chinese medicines containing volatile oil would be classified and the confusable species would be discriminated by using the Chinese pharmacy knowledge.In this study,the quality-influencing factors would be comprehensively analyzed and the content determination methods of volatile oil would be summarized to offer a reference for the development and application of Chinese medicinal materials containing volatile oil,as well as to lay the foundation for further reinforcing and improving their quality standards.

Effect and regulation of drying on quality of traditional Chinese medicine pills / 中国中药杂志

The dry quality of traditional Chinese medicine pills is the hot spot of pills research, because their quality has a crucial effect on the efficacy and development of dosage forms. Through literature research and statistical analysis, we would review the current problems on the drying of traditional Chinese medicine pills in this paper, and surrounding the evaluation system for traditional Chinese medicine pills, analyze the characteristics of common drying equipment and processes as well as their effect on quality of pills, discuss the problems in drying equipment and process as well as quality, and put forward the corresponding strategies, hoping to provide new ideas and new methods for the quality improvement of traditional Chinese medicine pills and quality standards.

Effect of fluidized bed technology on micromeritics properties of Leonurus Herba extract / 中国中药杂志

Based on different binders, the Leonurus Herba extract powders were fluidized and modified. The physical properties such as hygroscopicity, flowability, filling property and compression property were studied by various micromeritics methods before and after modification. The results showed that the physical properties of Leonurus Herba extract were close to those of microcrystalline cellulose, and its comprehensive flow index was between 61-75. Fluidization process can improve hygroscopicity, so the moisture absorption indexes of the samples were significantly lower than those of the original Leonurus Herba extract samples. With the plastic constant, compression ratio and yield stress, Heckel equation and Kawakita equation as the the investigation indicators, results showed that fluidization process based on binder water was superior to other methods in increasing the compressibility of the extracts. In low and medium pressure, the fluidized and modified extract can form the tablets with a certain strength. Fluidized transformation had a greater influence on the properties of original Leonurus Herba extracts, which was instructive to guide significance for the surface modification of pharmaceutical powders and provide the basis for the development of extract tablet.

Preparation of ferulic acid, senkyunolide I and senkyunolide H from Ligusticum chuanxiong by preparative HPLC / 中国中药杂志

Preparative HPLC was used to prepare ferulic acid, senkyunolide I and senkyunolide H from Ligusticum chuanxiong. The separation was conducted on a Shim-Pack Prep-ODS (20.0 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) column with the mobile phase of methanol-0.2% glacial acetic acid (50:50)at the flow rate of 5 mL x min(-1). The detection wavelength was 278 nm, and the purity of each compound was detected by HPLC analysis. Spectral data analyses including UV, ESI-MS and NMR were used to identify their structures. This method is simple, fast, which is suitable for preparation of standard reference of ferulic acid, senkyunolide I and senkyunolide H from L. chuanxiong and can meet the requirement of new drug research and development.

Characterization of flowability of pharmaceutical powders based on multivariate analysis method / 药学学报

The main methods of characterizing the flowability of pharmaceutical powders include repose angle method, HR method, Carr's index method, Jenike flow function method, fractal dimension method, and mass flow rate method, etc. Regarding powders with different flowabilities as the research subject, comprehensive features of pharmaceutical materials were investigated and characterized. The multivariate analysis method was employed to evaluate and analyze flowability values of the tested pharmaceutical materials. Comparing with the method of the mass flow rate, it was feasible to use multivariate analysis method to evaluate the flowability of powders. Simultaneously, the flowability of pharmaceutical materials could be ranked and definitely quantified, and critical values be determined according to the actual production, which has promoted the previous methods dependent only on the single parameter, i.e. repose angle and compression degree methods. A relatively objective standard method of evaluating flowability of powders is formed.