ABSTRACT
Benzoinum has a long history of medicinal use. In order to standardize its clinical use， the author made systematic textual research on the name， origin， evolution of scientific name， producing area， property， quality evaluation， harvesting and processing of Benzoinum by reviewing the ancient materia medica， medical books and modern literature. According to the research， the mainstream variety of Benzoinum recorded in ancient materia medica should be the dry resin of Styrax tonkinensis of Styracaceae. In addition to S. benzoin， which was also used in many applications. In modern times， S. benzoin was the mainstream， but in practice， it was mostly the resin of various plants of the genus Styrax， and then S. tonkinensis and S. benzoides were recorded as the main sources of Benzoinum. Nowadays， it mainly comes from S. tonkinensis. In ancient times， the producing areas of Benzoinum were Persia， Xirong， Annan and other places， whereas now are distributed in Indonesia， Sumatra， Thailand， Vietnam， and Fujian， Guizhou， Yunnan， Guangxi， Guangdong and other places in China， but most of the medicinal materials in China are imported. Traditionally， the medicinal materials of Benzoinum with properties of oily， waxy luster， brittle and fragile， strong aroma， sand feeling when chewing and no impurities are considered better. In antiquity， the harvesting time of Benzoinum was concentrated in July and August， while in modern times， it is harvested in summer and autumn， and collected in various ways， usually the trees are selected to be harvested if they are more than 10 years old， and the best quality being the first， milky resin collected when the time of cutting the trees is from April to June. In the past dynasties， the powdered resin was mainly ground and used in formulas， in addition， there were also records of wine steaming into paste and processing with honey， etc. The 1953 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia added records such as sevum benzoinatum and adeps benzoinatus， and now it is mostly used as powder into pills or powers， or used after processing with wine. Based on the results of textual research， it is suggested that although the dry resin of S. benzoin is not a medicinal variety of Benzoinum included in the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia， it has a long history of application and has some clinical value， so its medicinal feasibility can be explored in depth. In the development of famous classical formulas containing Benzoinum， the dry resin of S. tonkinensis or S. benzoin can be used， which should be used in medicine as powder after dried or processed according to the requirements of prescriptions.
ABSTRACT
Objective::To identify the active anti-tumor constituents of Benzoinum according to observation of the anti-tumor effect of chemical constituents from Benzoinum in vitro. Method::The 95%ethanol extract of Benzoinum was systematically separated by silica gel column chromatography, medium pressure liquid preparation chromatography and preparation liquid chromatography, and their structures were identified by physicochemical property and spectral data. Anti-tumor activities of the compounds of Benzoinum were screened by in vitro cells including human hepatoma cells in vitro (HepG2), human lung cancer cells (A549), human cervical cancer cells (HeLa), human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and human prostate cancer cells (PC-3). Result::Fifteen compounds were isolated from Benzoinum and identified as myricadiol(1), 3-keto-oleanonic acid(2), (4E)-1, 5-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-methoxy-2-(methoxy-methyl)-4-pentene(3a and 3b), (E)-p-coumaryl alcohol γ-Ο-methyl ether(4), sesamin(5), 5-(3″benzoyloxypropyl)-7-methoxy-2-(3′, 4′-methylenedioxy phenyl)-benzofuran(6), dibutyl phthalate(7), methyl 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoate(8), p-hydroxybenzaldehyde(9), p-hydroxyacetophenone(10), acetovanillone(11), 3-oxo-olean-11, 13(18)-dien-28, 19β-olide(12), vanillin(13), benzoic acid(14), and siaresinolic acid(15). Compounds 1 to 11 were isolated from the resin of Styrax tonkinensis for the first time. A part of these compounds had good anti-tumor activities. Among them, compound 2, 12 showed a strongest activity. Conclusion::The chemical constituents of Benzoinum have good prospects for the development and application of anti-tumor drugs.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To compare l-Borneolum, Borneolum, Borneolum Syntheticum, Styrax, and Benzoinum for regulating the physiological index of node and strength in a rat model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced fever in parallel based on the overall concept of tradition Chinese medicine (TCM) and the idea of dynamic view. Methods: The influence of resuscitation inducing aromatic herbs on rats with normal activities of body temperature (T), heart rate (HR), blood pressure (SBP and DBP), activity (A), and other physiological parameters were dynamically monitored by DSI implantable physiological signal telemetry technology. The data were processed and mapped by SPSS 17.0, SAS 9.2, and OriginPro 8.5. Results: Three kinds of borneol showed inhibitory effect on T and HR of model rats, and l-Borneolum had the optimal inhibitory effect; Styrax showed the excitation-inhibition trend on HR, SBP, DBP, and A of model rats; Benzoinum had no obvious effect on each index. The results of principal component analysis showed that Borneolum and Styrax had the same orientation in model rats; Borneolum Syntheticum could simultaneously affect A, SBP, and DBP. Cluster analysis and correspondence analysis showed that characteristics of three kinds of borneol can be classified as the same kind; Benzoinum and Styrax had their own affect rules. Conclusion: The three kinds of drugs have inhibitory effect on each physiological index; Styrax has the excitation-inhibition trend, which is related to the previous understanding of its time-window; Benzoinum has no effect on model rats, which is related to its evenness. The future research can be expanded on the mechanism of resuscitation drugs on rats with LPS-induced fever.