Relationship between active components in Scutellaria baicalensis and environmental factors in mountainous region of Western Beijing / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective To reveal the influence of environmental factors on the active components in Scutellaria baicalensis through analyzing the data sampled from the herbal plants along the altitudinal gradient in mountainous region of Western Beijing.Methods In total 85 individuals of S.baicalensis herbs were collected and the surface soils under each of the plant were also sampled from eight different habitats,with an interval of about 100—150 m vertically ranging from 800 to 1 800 m in August through September,2007.The contents of active components in the herbal samples,namely baicalin,wogonoside,baicalein,wogonin,and oroxylin A were determined by HPLC.The organic matter and the total nitrogen contents in the soil samples were analyzed through standard measurement process.The various habitat conditions represented by temperature were estimated through a vertical lapse rate of-0.56 ℃/100 m,and those by precipitation and solar radiation calculated according to the isoline maps.Results The signi-ficant positive correlations were observed only between the contents of baicalin,wogonoside and the elevation.Both those two contents showed the significant negative correlations with the annual mean temperature and precipitation,while showed positive with annual mean solar radiation.No coorelation with any statistical significance was observed between the contents of active components in S.baicalensis and the soil parameters in this study.Conclusion It seems that the plants of S.baicalensis growing in a habitat with annual mean temperature within a range of 2—6 ℃ could concentrate relatively rich contents of active components.Within the natural distribution areas of S.baicalensis,the habitats with an annual tem-perature averaged at 3—4 ℃ tend to be the most fitting sites for growing best quality S.baicalensis rich in active components,and those sites are almost coincident with the environment for trueborn production area of traditional S.baicalensis herbs.