Optimization of integration of field processing and crude drugs processing of Ligusticum chuanxiong / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To optimize the integration technology on field processing and processing crude drugs of Ligusticum chuanxiong (LC) and provide the scientific evidence for the integration of LC. Methods: Single factor test and orthogonal method was used to investigate the three significant influencing factors, which were water content, drying temperature, and slice thickness. Based on the appearance character and active component (ferulic acid, volatile oil, and extract) of LC, the integrated process was selected by comprehensive scoring method. To investigate the stability of the process, three batches of integrated slices were processed according to the optimized integrated process; And three batches of corresponding traditional slices were processed according to the method stipulated in Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2015 edition), and the quality of the two kinds of slices was compared. The rat migraine model was induced by nitroglycerin. The effects of two different processed slices on migraine were compared by recording the times of head flick and head scratching, the level of NO in serum and the activity of NOS in serum of rats. Results: The optimum integrated process was as follows drying fresh LC until water content was 28%, cutting 2 mm thick slices, drying at 50 ℃ in drying box (about 6 h). The integrated process had good stability and repeatability, and the quality of integrated slices was close to that of traditional slices. Compared with the model group, two processed slices could significantly reduce the number of head flick and head scratch (P < 0.01, 0.001), and decreased the activity of NOS (P < 0.01), and the level of NO decreased significantly (P < 0.01). The pharmacodynamics of the two process pieces was similar. Conclusion: The integrated processing and traditional processing of Chuanxiong Rhizoma decoction has good similarity in character, effective component content and treatment of migraine. Moreover, the integrated processing has standardized the production of Chuanxiong Rhizoma decoction slices from the source. Under the premise of ensuring the quality of Chinese herbal slices, the production cycle is shortened and the production cost is saved. It is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine slices production mode which is worth popularizing.