Study on Original Processing Technology of Salvia miltiorrhiza Raw Medicinal Materials / 中国药房

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE： To study the effects of different processing technologies on the quality of Salvia miltiorrhiza decoction pieces， and to provide reference for original processing of S. miltiorrhiza to decoction pieces. METHODS： Fresh S. miltiorrhiza from two areas of Shandong province （Pingyin and Pingyi） were processed into decoction pieces by 24 kinds of processing technology， such as fresh cutting， dry cutting after dried 30％， dry cutting after dried 50％， full dry cutting， traditional cutting [from 2015 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia （part Ⅰ）， shorted as pharmacopecia]， cutting after full dry steamed， cutting after fresh steamed， cutting after dry 30％ steamed， cutting after fresh boiled （then divided into air-drying and baking）. The qualities of decoction pieces were evaluated for original processing comprehensively through appearance character and the contents of moisture， water soluble extract， ethanol soluble extract， and effective components （tanshinones and salvianolic acid B）. RESULTS： From the appearance characteristics， the traditional cutting， cutting after fresh steamed and cutting after dry 30％ steamed， decoction pieces had better surface color and high yield， which were more in line with the relevant description of the pharmacopecia. From the contents of moisture and effective components， the contents of moisture of S. miltiorrhiza decoction pieces were 3.60％-10.40％； the contents of water soluble extract were 51.07％-70.18％； the contents of ethanol soluble extract were 15.08％-20.36％， all above were all in line with the standard of pharmacopecia. The contents of tanshinones were 0.16％-0.79％. Only fresh-cut and fresh-boiled-cut baked samples from Pingyin were not up to the standard of pharmacopecia （tanshinones content was not less than 0.25％）， while those from Pingyi were up to the standard. The contents of salvianolic acid B were 4.51％-8.68％， which were all in line with the standard of pharmacopecia （salvianolic acid B content was not less than 3.0％）. In all processing technologies， the indexes of decoctions made by steaming， cutting and air-drying were higher. CONCLUSIONS： Comprehensive considering from the aspects of appearance character and effective components content， suitable processing method of S. miltiorrhiza raw medicinal materials is cutting after steamed and air-drying.