Herbal textual research on Polygalae Radix / 中草药

Quality control is the premise for traditional Chinese medicine efficacy and safety, but there are some problems in quality control of Polygalae Radix. The records of the modern pharmacopoeias for its medicinal species are not consistent with them in the ancient herbal books. Habitats of Polygala tenuifolia are endlessly changed in the ancient herbal books, which leads to an unclear genuine producing area. According to the traditional medicine theories, the reason why people feel dysphoria after taking P. tenuifolia is xylem and P. tenuifolia is bad for the throat without processing. However, the chemical composition that causes these side effects is not very clear. This paper reviewed the medicinal species, genuine producing area and the reasons for side effects of P. tenuifolia by consulting ancient herbal books, monographs, and literature. In the past, there are many other polygala plants used widely in all over the country. Shanxi province has become the genuine habitat for P. tenuifolia. The reason why people feel dysphoria after taking P. tenuifolia is saponins. All saponins, methylbenzene, and alkaloids cause these side effects for throat, but processing can reduce it. This review on processing aspect can provide evidence for reducing toxicity of P. tenuifolia.

Analysis of influencing factors of secondary metabolites contents in cultivated Polygala tenuifolia / 中国中药杂志

This work was launched to explore the effect of habitat and growth year on the secondary metabolites contents of cultivated Polygala tenuifolia. The samples of cultivated P. tenuifolia were analyzed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography(UPLC)-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(Q-TOF MS), and the obtained data were analyzed using multiple statistical analysis and cluster analysis. The results showed that compared with growth year, habitat is a main influencing factor which affected the secondary metabolites contents of P. tenuifolia. The contents of sucrose esters and oligosacchride multi-esters are greatly dependent on the habitat (the sample-AG with high levels of components of tenuifoliside B and tenuifoliside C, and the sample-FY with high levels of 3,6'-disinapoyl sucrose, tenuifoliose S, tenuifoliose L, and tenuifoliose V). There is no obvious effect of habitat and growth year on xanthone. The contents of triterpene saponins are greatly dependent on the growth year, and the content of parts of triterpene saponins increased as time goes on.The result indicated that the effect of habitat and growth year on different types of secondary metabolites is not completely equivalent. This study will contribute to the breeding of P. tenuifolia and amendment of current commodity criteria.