Identification of growth years of Hengshan imitative wild culture Astragali Radix and investigation into the accumulation rules of flavonoids and saponins / 药学学报

Currently, the specification grading standard for Astragali Radix can not accurately reflect growth years. The aim of this study is to identify the growth ring number of different parts of 1 to 6 year Hengshan imitative wild culture Astragali Radix, in order to get a different absolute growth years, to classify the accumulation rules of the content of flavonoids and saponins, and to lay the foundation for evaluating quality of Astragali Radix. Observing growth ring numbers of 1-6 years Astragali Radix by means of hand sections and paraffin sections in the study, and analyzing the number of different growth years and different diameter. At the same time, HPLC-UV-ELSD was used to analyze the 12 index components of the samples with absolute growth years of 2 to 6 years. The results indicated that the growth ring number excepting hollow part is consistent with the actual growth period of Astragali Radix and the number of growth rings gradually decreased from the upper to lower. The results of HPLC-UV-ELSD determination showed that the saponins content of 3-year-old Astragali Radix was the highest while the flavonoids content of the 4-year-old reached the maximum. The study provided the basis for foundation of the specification grading standard for Astragali Radix and clinical rational use drug.

Growth rings in roots of seven Sect. Paeonia species and its application on identification of Paeoniae Radix Rubra / 中国中药杂志

The growth years of medicinal materials are closely related to their quality, and "Herb-chronology" has been used to determine the growth years of perennial dicotyledonous plants in recent years. On the basis of conventional paraffin section and freehand section, the anatomical study on roots of seven Sect. Paeonia species and main roots of cultivated Paeonia lactiflora was conducted in this paper. The results showed that, there existed some differences in microstructure of the seven species such as P. lactiflora, P. obovata, P. veitchii, P. mairei, P. anomala, P. sinjiangensis and P. anomala var. intermedia, and this could be used to distinguish different species. In the roots of seven Sect. Paeonia species, distinct growth rings were formed because that the different diameters or density of xylem vessels in the secondary xylem formed clusters and arranged interrupted rings in tangential direction. There were growth rings in the main roots of P. lactiflora cultivated 1-4 years in Siping, Jilin, which were all consistent with their growth years. Due to the similar growth characteristics between wild Sect. Paeonia species and cultivated P. lactiflora, the growth rings can provide a basis for the age identification and lay the foundation for the quality evaluation of Paeoniae Radix Rubra.