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
Cimicifugae Rhizoma is contained in the "Shen Nong's Herbal Classic" and listed as the top grade. It is a traditional Chinese medicine for divergent wind and heat. In recent years, scholars have gradually deepened their research on various aspects of Cimicifugae Rhizoma, and its new chemical components and pharmacological effects have been discovered. Based on the review of the literature, the summary of its chemical composition and pharmacological effects, according to the definition of Q-marker, from the aspects of the source route, drug efficacy, traditional drug properties, and the significant components in different compatibility, the Q-marker of Cimicifugae Rhizoma is predicted, in order to provide a scientific basis for the quality evaluation of Cimicifugae Rhizoma.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To analyze the effect of honey bran stir-frying method in Zhang faction and honey chaff stir-frying method in Jianchang faction on the composition and relative content of volatile components in Cimicifugae Rhizoma. Method: The volatile oil in different processed products of Cimicifugae Rhizoma was extracted by steam distillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The inlet temperature was 260℃, the transmission line temperature was 250℃, the carrier gas was helium, the flow rate was 1.0 mL·min-1, the split ratio was 10:1, the injection volume was 1 μL. The column temperature was set at 70℃ by programmed heating, rising to 150℃ by 2℃·min-1 and keeping it there for 2 min, rising to 240℃ by 6℃·min-1 and keeping it there for 3 min, rising to 300℃ by 25℃·min-1 and keeping it there for 2 min. The relative content of each component in volatile oil was calculated by peak area normalization method. Result: A total of 73 components were identified from raw products of Cimicifugae Rhizoma, 37 components were identified from honey bran stir-frying products, 93 components were identified from honey chaff stir-frying products, and 71 components were identified from honey stir-frying products. The relative content of n-hexadecanoic acid was the highest among all components in different processed products, accounting for 30.38%-46.47% of the total volatile components. In addition to fatty acids, volatile oils also contained alkanes, esters, alcohols, etc. There were 8 common components with relative content ≥ 1.0% in raw and processed products of Cimicifugae Rhizoma, after stir-frying with honey bran, the relative contents of these 8 components showed an upward trend, but showed a decreasing trend after stir-frying with honey chaff. Conclusion: After processing with Zhang faction method or Jianchang faction method, the composition and relative content of volatile components in Cimicifugae Rhizoma were significantly changed. This study can provide a scientific basis for explaining the processing mechanism of Jiangxi characteristic Cimicifugae Rhizoma decoction pieces.
ABSTRACT
Cimicifugae Rhizoma (Sheng ma) is a Ranunculaceae herb belonging to a composite family and well known in China. has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. Thecontains three varieties ((Turcz.),L. andKom.) which have been used clinically as "Sheng-ma". However, the chemical constituents of three components of "Sheng-ma" have never been documented. In this study, a rapid method for the analysis of the main components of "Sheng-ma" was developed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS). The present study reveals the major common and distinct chemical constituents of,andand also reports principal component and statistical analyses of these results. The components were identified by comparing the retention time, accurate mass, mass spectrometric fragmentation characteristic ions and matching empirical molecular formula with that of the published compounds. A total of 32 common components and 8 markers for different "Sheng-ma" components were identified. These findings provide an important basis for the further study and clinical utilities of the three "Sheng-ma" varieties.
ABSTRACT
High-resolution-melting analysis (HRM) is a new technology derived from qPCR and is widely used in the study of polymorphism, genotyping, and single nucleotide mutation. Advantages of HRM include cost-effectiveness and time-efficiency over PCR-based genotyping. However, the application of HRM in the authentication of herbal products is still limited with few studies on the classification and identification of herbal products. In this study, Cimicifugae Rhizoma was used as an example to verify the stability and accuracy of HRM technique in identification of Chinese materia medica. HRM assay was established for identification based on ITS2 region of Cimicifugae Rhizomas and its adulterants (including 41 samples). Our findings showed that HRM allows not only the identification of adulteration but also the quantification of the most common admixture. This study is significant for better quality in the verification of the authenticity of herbal medicine. The method is promising for future identification of traditional Chinese medicinal materials.