RESUMO
Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) are one of the important bioresources of medicine, which works by unlocking nature's ability to prevent diseases and recover from illnesses. Recently, it has ascended to the world stage and become a global icon. Nowadays, a considerable of researches have focused on the quality evaluation of CHMs. However, it is difficult to meet the reasonable needs of human beings for safe drug use to evaluate the quality of a huge number of inferior goods for the CHMs contaminated by pesticides and heavy metals. Hence to explore an eligible medicinal plant cultivation pattern, which can provide high quality CHMs sustainably, is most promising. This review analyzed the situation and characteristics of medicinal plant resources in different periods, including wild-harvested and cultivated resources during different stages, putting forward that ecological cultivation must be the way to develop medicinal plant cultivation and to obtain high quality CHMs.
RESUMO
Objective: Flower herbs are an important category of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, some of which are used as healthcare tea in folk. However, the increasing adulteration of medicinal herbs is threatening consumer safety. The adulteration of flower herbs and their healthcare tea products in the market were investigated. Methods: A total of 33 flower herb samples from several retail pharmacies in China were randomly collected and 27 flower healthcare tea samples were purchased online. They were identified using ITS2-based Traditional Chinese Medicine Database (TCMD). Additionally, Lonicerae Japonicae Flos and the adulterants were compared in the ITS2 secondary structures. Results: There were one adulterant (Inulae Flos) in flower herb materials and eight adulterants in healthcare tea samples. Inula linariifolia was an adulterate species of Inulae Flos, Robinia pseudoacacia was of Sophorae Flos, and Lonicera macranthoides was of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos. Sophorae Flos and Lonicerae Japonicae Flos were two healthcare tea products with high adulteration rates. Conclusion: The TCMD is powerful tool to identify flower herbs and the adulterants that frequently occurred in the flower herb market, especially online shops.
RESUMO
Rhizoma Bletillae is in high demand as a traditional Chinese medicine, and the natural resources have been severely damaged due to excessive exploitation. Because Bletilla striata seeds are small and have no endosperm, the seed germination rate is low in natural conditions. Traditional division propagation could not meet the demands of large-scale cultivation. Tissue culture can provide many seedlings in a short time and is more effective and convenient than other methods. Most studies on tissue culture of B. striata selected seeds as explants. This review summarized the processes of the aseptic seed germination pathway. It included such stages as seed germination, proliferation of clusters of buds, induction of rooting and transplanting of seedlings. Influential factors as well as optimum combination and concentration of the plant growth regulators of each stage were also summarized. The further research on tissue culture of B. striata was also prospected.
RESUMO
Armand clematis stem (Clematidis Armandii Caulis, Chuanmutong) is a widely used Chinese herb to disinhibit urine and relieve stranguria. It is difficult to be identified owing to its various macroscopic feature and unknown characteristic compounds. Thus, total of 24 Chuanmutong samples and 7 related herbs including four manshurian aristolochia stem (Aristolochiae Manshuriensis Caulis, Guanmutong) and three akebia stem (Akebiae Caulis, Mutong) samples were collected and analyzed in the range of 4 000 - 400 cm⁻¹ by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and two-dimensional infrared correlation spectroscopy (2D-FTIR) techniques. The FTIR spectra of 24 Chuanmutong samples are consistent in the spectrum profiles, position and intensity of characteristic peaks. 20 of the 24 Chuanmutong samples were randomly selected as calibration samples to calculate and simulate mean spectrum. This mean spectrum is named as FTIR fingerprint of Chuanmutong with characteristic peaks at 3 412, 2 932, 1 739, 1 639, 1 509, 1 456, 1 426, 1 376, 1 332, 1 261, 1 159, 1 035, 897 ,609 cm⁻¹. Meanwhile, the limited level (Mean-3σ=0.992 6) to identify true or false Chuanmutong by correlation coefficient of FTIR spectra was calculated based on the 20 Chuanmutong calibration samples. Then, the rest 4 Chuanmutong, 4 Guanmutong and 3 Mutong samples were used as validation samples to evaluate the identification efficacy. The result shows that the FTIR spectra of 4 Chuanmutong validation samples were similar to the fingerprint. Their correlation coefficients of FTIR spectra were over the limited level and accepted as Chuanmutong. However, the spectra of Guanmutong and Mutong were significantly different from Chuanmutong fingerprint. The correlation coefficients of Guanmutong (0.902 1-0.940 4, n=4) and Mutong (0.954 9-0.978 9, n=3) FTIR spectra were less than the limited level and rejected from Chuanmutong. Furthermore, the number, position and intensity of auto-peaks on the 2D-FTIR were drastically different among the three herbs. It is concluded that the developed FTIR fingerprinting can be rapidly and accurately identify Chuanmutong and differentiate from related herbs.