[Influence of processing factors on honey-fried Codonopsis Radix].

The present study investigated the influence of heating and honey addition on the appearance, chemical component content, and pharmacological activity of Codonopsis Radix decoction pieces in the honey-frying process, and explored the processing mechanism of honey-fried Codonopsis Radix. The color, sweetness, and content of macromolecular components(e.g., oligosaccharides and polysaccharides) and small molecular components(e.g., lobetyolin and atractylenolide Ⅲ) of raw Codonopsis Radix, fried Codonopsis Radix, honey-mixed Codonopsis Radix, and honey-fried Codonopsis Radix were determined, and the antioxidant activities in vitro of their water extract, polysaccharide extract, and oligosaccharide extract were compared. The results showed that in terms of color and sweetness, compared with the raw Codonopsis Radix, the fried Codonopsis Radix slightly changed, the honey-mixed Codonopsis Radix changed significantly, and the honey-fried Codonopsis Radix changed with high significance. In terms of the content of lobetyolin, atractylenolide Ⅲ, and polysaccharides, the samples were ranked as raw Codonopsis Radix > fried Codonopsis Radix > honey-mixed Codonopsis Radix > honey-fried Codonopsis Radix, which indicated that heating and honey addition could reduce the content of these three components. In terms of the content of oligosaccharides, the samples were ranked as honey-fried Codonopsis Radix ≈ honey-mixed Codonopsis Radix > fried Codonopsis Radix ≈ raw Codonopsis Radix, indicating that honey addition could increase the content of oligosaccharides. In terms of antioxidant activity in vitro, ABTS radical scavenging ability of water extract, polysaccharides, and oligosaccharides of honey-fried Codonopsis Radix was most potent, while the change of antioxidant activity in vitro of each extract in the other three processed products was different. In short, both heating and honey addition can affect the appearance, chemical component content, and antioxidant activity in vitro of Codonopsis Radix decoction pieces, but the effect of the combination of the two factors is the best. The comprehensive analysis of the effects of heating and honey addition on Codonopsis Radix decoction pieces indicates that honey addition followed by heating at high temperature is the necessary condition for honey-fried Codonopsis Radix to enhance its activity.

[Chemical variation in Aconti Kusnezoffii Radix before and after processing based on UPLC-Orbitrap-MS].

Some Chinese herbal medicine needs to be processed before it can be used as medicine, especially toxic Chinese medicine. Highly toxic Aconti Kusnezoffii Radix(Caowu in Chinese) is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and Mongolian medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, Caowu is usually processed by boiling with water(CW) until no white part inside and being tasted without tongue-numbing. In Mongolian medicine, it is usually soaked in Chebulae Fructus(Hezi in Chinese) decoction for several days(CH). Both methods could reduce toxicity according to reports. The biggest difference between CW and CH is that CW needs to be heated for 4-6 h, while CH needs Hezi as processing adjuvants. To explore the toxicity reduction mechanism of CW and CH, we studied the contents of various compounds in Caowu processed by two methods by UPLC-Orbitrap-MS. The results indicated that CW had 14 new ingredients, such as 14-O-anisoylneoline and dehydro-mesaconitine, while N-demethyl-mesaconitine and aconitine disappeared. At the same time, it could significantly decrease the content of diester diterpenoid alkaloids and increase the contents of monoester diterpenoid alkaloids and amine-diterpenoid alkaloids. CH had 9 new ingredients from Hezi, like gallic acid, chebulic acid and shikimic acid. Neither the kinds nor the contents of compositions from Caowu in CH changed little. This suggested that the processing mechanism of CW reduced highly toxic components(diester diterpenoid alkaloids) and increased the content of lowly toxic components(monoester diterpenoid alkaloids and amine-diterpenoid alkaloids). Attenuated principle of CH may be related to the components of Hezi. In this experiment, the conclusion shows that the chemical constituents of CW and CH are essentially different, and the two methods have different toxicity reduction principles.