Herbal Textual Research on Armeniacae Semen Amarum in Famous Classical Formulas / 中国实验方剂学杂志

By consulting ancient Chinese herbal medicines and medical books， the textual research of Armeniacae Semen Amarum has been conducted to verify the name， origin， producing area， quality evaluation， harvesting and processing changes. Through textual research， Shennong Bencaojing began to contain Xinghe. After Xinxiu Bencao， Xingheren were gradually taken as the mainstream name， Xingren was first used as the correct name since Leigong Paozhilun， and gradually became the mainstream rectifying in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Before the Qing dynasty， there was no distinction between Armeniacae Semen Amarum and Armeniacae Semen Dulcis in the materia medica works， while the differences between them were clearly defined in some works of the Qing dynasty， but did not record them separately. In order to make them more accurate in clinical application， Armeniacae Semen Amarum was recorded as the correct name in the 1953 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia， and Armeniacae Semen Dulcis was included in the provincial standards. The original plants of Armeniacae Semen Amarum from Prunus armeniaca （Armeniaca vulgaris in Flora of China） and its cultivated varieties with bitter seeds were taken as the mainstream， which are reflected in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Its yellow ripe fruit was generally harvested in May， the seed kernel was taken out for drying or baking， finally the seed coat was removed to use. It is recorded that the production area of Armeniacae Semen Amarum is Taihang Mountain area of Shanxi province in ancient times. At present， its producing area is mainly concentrated in Shanxi， Shandong， Hebei and other places in north China. Historical literature pointed out that Armeniacae Semen Amarum had small toxicity， and heat treatment could reduce toxicity and increase efficiency， its main processing method was blanching and stir-frying. In addition， it is generally believed that raw products with seed coat can enhance its sweating effect since the Ming and Qing dynasties. Until now， three processed products are stipulated in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia， namely raw products， boiled and fried products. Based on textual research， it is recommended that A. vulgaris should be used as the original plant of Armeniacae Semen Amarum in famous classical formulas， and the use of processed products should follow the processing requirements marked in the formulas.

Dynamic changes of volatile components of Qiai from different harvest time based on GC-MS and chemometrics analysis / 中国中药杂志

Artemisiae Argyi Folium, the dried leaves of Artemisia argyi, has been widely used in traditional Chinese and folk medicines for a long time. Qiai is one of the top-geoherb of Artemisiae Argyi Folium. Qiai contains various bioactive constituents, such as volatile oils, phenolic acids, flavonoids and terpenoids. Phytochemical studies demonstrated that volatile compounds are the main bioactive constituents in Qiai. Try to investigate dynamic changes of volatile components of Qiai from different harvest time and explore the optimum harvest time of Qiai, in this study, the contents of total volatile oils in Qiai collected from five different harvest time were analyzed by steam distillation method. The results showed that the contents of volatile oils of Qiai were higher in the third harvest time(around the Dragon Boat Festival), which is basically consistent with the traditional harvest time. Furthermore, a sensitive method based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS) was established for qualitative analysis of volatile compounds in Qiai, and a total of thirty volatile compounds were identified. Chemometrics methods including principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least-squares discriminate analysis(OPLS-DA) were applied to explore chemical markers and dynamic changes of volatile components in Qiai from different harvest time, and the results indicated that there were obvious differences in the relative contents of volatile compounds of Qiai samples from different harvest time. Eight volatile compounds, including α-terpinene, γ-terpinene, D-camphor, trans-carveol, α-copaene, isobornylisobutyrate, humulene, and caryophyllene oxide were selected as potential chemical markers. Among the eight chemical markers, the relative contents of α-terpinene, γ-terpinene, α-copaene and caryophyllene oxide were higher in the third harvest period(around the Dragon Boat Festival), which is consistent with the contents of total volatile oils. The present study could provide the basis for investigating the optimum harvest time of Qiai, and might be useful for the quality control of this herbal medicine.

Study on difference of chemical constituents of Qiai in different harvest periods / 中国中药杂志

Artemisiae Argyi Folium,the dried leaves of Artemisia argyi,has been widely used in traditional Chinese and folk medicines for a long time. Qiai is one of the top-geoherb of Artemisiae Argyi Folium. Trying to investigate dynamic changes of chemical components of Qiai in different harvest periods and explore the optimum harvest time of Qiai,in this study,the contents of total flavonoids and total phenolic acids of 36 batches of Qiai collected in 6 different harvest periods were analyzed by ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry. Furthermore,an HPLC method was applied for simultaneous determination of eight bioactive compounds including six phenolic acids( 5-caffeoylquinic acid,3-caffeoylquinic acid,4-caffeoylquinic acid,3,4-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid,3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid and 4,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid) and two flavonoids( jaceosidin and eupatilin) in Qiai samples. The quantitative results indicated that there were some differences in the contents of total flavonoids,total phenolic acids and bioactive compounds of Qiai samples in different harvest periods. The dynamic changes of total flavonoids and total phenolic acids of Qiai in different harvest periods were consistent. The contents of total flavonoids and total phenolic acids of Qiai samples were higher in the third harvest period( around the Dragon Boat Festival),which is basically consistent with the traditional harvest periods. This present study can provide the basis for determining the suitable harvest time of Qiai,and might be useful for the quality evaluation of this herbal medicine.

Quality evaluation of Taraxaci Herba based on fingerprint analysis and quantitative analysis of multi-components / 中国中药杂志

Taraxaci Herba was derived from the dried Herba of Taraxacum mongolicum, T. borealisinense and several species from the Taraxacum genus. Taraxaci Herba has been widely used in traditional Chinese and folk medicines. According to the different growth and cultivation pattern, Taraxaci Herba could be divided into two species, wild Taraxaci Herba and cultivated Taraxaci Herba. In the present study, an accurate and reliable fingerprint approach was developed using high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) for quality control of Taraxaci Herba. A total of 9 common peaks were marked, and the similarity of all the Taraxaci Herba samples was above 0.960. The established fingerprint method could be used for quality control of Taraxaci Herba. Furthermore, an HPLC method was established for simultaneous determination of six bioactive compounds, including monocaffeoyl tartaric acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, cichoric acid, 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid and luteolin in wild Taraxaci Herba and cultivated Taraxaci Herba. Moreover,chemometrics analysis such as principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis were performed to compare and discriminate the wild samples and cultivated samples based on the quantitative data. The chemometrics results indicated that 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid and luteolin were significant to effectively discriminate the wild Taraxaci Herba and cultivated Taraxaci Herba samples, and these two compounds could be recognized as chemical markers for quality evaluation of wild Taraxaci Herba and cultivated Taraxaci Herba. The fingerprint analysis and quantitative analysis of multi-components could be a well-acceptable strategy for evaluation the quality of Taraxaci Herba.