ABSTRACT
Objective:To establish a rapid method to identify <italic>Levisticum officinale </italic>adulterated in<italic> Angelica sinensis</italic> by polymerase chain reaction -restriction fragment length polymophism（PCR-RFLP）. Method:By comparing sequences restriction sites in ribosomal DNA Internal Transcribed Spacer（ITS） of <italic>A. sinensis</italic> and <italic>L. officinale</italic>，the specific restriction site Fnu4HI of <italic>L. officinale</italic> was selected，and the primers for PCR-RFLP reaction were designed. Different <italic>A. sinensis</italic> and <italic>L. officinale</italic> were amplified by PCR. The conditions affecting the PCR-RFLP reaction，such as annealing temperature，primer concentration，cycle number and enzyme digestion reaction time，were optimized，and the accuracy of the method was investigated. The established PCR-RFLP identification method was used to investigate the applicability of <italic>L. officinale </italic>adulterated<italic> in A. sinensis</italic> with different aduleration ratios and different origins. Result:A PCR-RFLP method for identifying <italic>A. sinensis</italic> mixed with <italic>L. officinale</italic> was established. When the annealing temperature was 62 ℃ and the number of cycles was 30，when the <italic>L. officinale </italic>adulterated in<italic> A. sinensis</italic> could be digested by Fnu4H I restriction endonuclease after amplification with specific primers，and the two single DNA bands were detected between 100-500 bp，the <italic>A. sinensis</italic> were all negative. The minimum detection limit of this method for adulterated <italic>L. officinale</italic> in <italic>A. sinensis</italic> was 3%，which could be used for the detection of adulterated <italic>L. officinale</italic> in <italic>A. sinensis</italic>. Conclusion:The established PCR-RFLP identification method is sensitive and accurate in detecting whether there is <italic>L. officinale</italic> in <italic>A. sinensis</italic>，and it provides inspection reference and basis for the quality control of <italic>A. sinensis</italic>，with great significance to ensure the safety of its clinical medication.
ABSTRACT
Objective: Comparing the quality among five species of Angelicae Radix (Danggui) samples, i.e. Chinese Danggui (CDG, the roots of Angelica sinensis), Japanese Danggui (JDG, the roots of A. acutiloba), Korean Danggui (KDG, the roots of A. gigas), Lovage root (LR, the roots of Levisticum officinale), and Angelica archangelica root (AAR, the roots of A. archangelica) by evaluating the contents of their bioactive components. Methods: The 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid colorimetric method (DNS method) was developed to quantify the amount of polysaccharides in a total of 46 species of Angelicae Radix collected from different countries based on the optimization of sampling, comparing the differences of polysaccharide among various species of Angelicae Radix, etc. Results: The contents of polysaccharides were found to be significantly different among the five species of Angelicae Radix. The order from high to low amount was AAR (162.5 mg/g, n=9), LR (142.3 mg/g, n=4), JDG (126.8 mg/g, n=13), KDG (126.8 mg/g, n=13), and CDG (80.75 mg/g, n=12). For JDG sample, the contents of polysaccharide were significant variety among samples cultivated in Japan (131.37 mg/g, n=3), China (184.29 mg/g, n=4), and Korea (94.98 mg/g, n=4). Conclusion: The developed DNS method is suitable to accurately quantify the amount of polysaccharide in Angelicae Radix. The pharmaceutical efficacy is variety among the five Angelicae Radix resulting from the various contents of polysaccharide. These herbs can not be mixed or substituted in clinical use.