[Establishing quantitative model of naringin in citrus Grandis Exocarpium by near infrared spectroscopy].

OBJECTIVE: To establish the quantitative model of naringin in Citrus Grandis Exocarpium by near infrared reflectance spectroscopy(NIRS). METHODS: NIRSs of 54 Citrus Grandis Exocarpium samples were collected and pretreated by TQ Analyst 8.0 software with first derivative + Norris filter. The wavebands in 10,000-4000 cm(-1) were collected and 9 numbers of factors were used. The calibration model was built with partial least squares (PLS). RESULTS: The quantitative calibration model had good correlation coefficients (r = 0.9927) and low root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC = 0.0746). Root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) was 0.282. The average rate of recovery of validation was 101.65% (n = 9). CONCLUSION: The quantitative calibration model is trustworthy and it can be used to predict naringin in Citrus Grandis Exocarpium accurately. This simple, fast and non-destructive advantages of NIRS can be used for quality control and exploitation of Citrus Grandis Exocarpium.

[Application of near-infrared spectroscopy technology in quality control of TCM manufacturing process].

With the development of research in near-infrared spectroscopy technology, near-infrared spectroscopy are increasingly employed in quality control of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) manufacturing process. The recent researches in relative field were summarized in this paper. Perspective of near-infrared spectroscopy technology in quality control of TCM manufacturing process was also presented in this paper.

[Study on quality control of herbal material of paeony formula granule by near infrared diffuse reflection spectroscopy].

OBJECTIVE: To develop a novel method to determine fastly and nondestructively the content of paeoniflorin, albiflorin and moisture in Radix Paeoniae Alba with near infrared diffuse reflection spectroscopy. METHOD: Multivariate calibration models based on PLS algorithm were developed to correlate the spectra and the corresponding values determined by the reference method. RESULT: The corelation coefficients (R2) of the calibration models were 0.938, 0.943 and 0.976, and the prediction average relative deviation for paeoniflorin, albiflorin and moisture content were 6.5%, 0.23% and 3.8%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The NIRS determination method is rapid, accurate, nondestructive and non-pollution. It can dispose the samples without complicated pretreatment. It is qualified to analyze rapidly traditional Chinese medicine whose components are complex. NIRS can be used to control the quality of herbal material of paeony formula granule.

Piperine potentiates the hypocholesterolemic effect of curcumin in rats fed on a high fat diet.

It has previously been demonstrated that curcumin possesses a hypocholesterolemic effect and potentiates numerous pharmacological effects of curcumin, however, the mechanisms underlying this hypocholesterolemic effect and the interaction between curcumin and piperine remain to be elucidated. In the present study, male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed on a high-fat diet (HFD) to establish a hyperlipidemia (HLP) model. Co-administration of curcumin plus piperine was found to decrease the levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the serum and liver, as well as increase the levels of fecal TC, TG and total bile acid, compared with administration of curcumin alone. Curcumin plus piperine also markedly increased the levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Furthermore, compared with administration of curcumin alone, administration of curcumin plus piperine resulted in a significant upregulation of the activity and gene expression of apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI), lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT), cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) and low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR). In conclusion, these results indicated that co-administration of curcumin plus piperine potentiates the hypocholesterolemic effects of curcumin by increasing the activity and gene expression of ApoAI, CYP7A1, LCAT and LDLR, providing a promising combination for the treatment of HLP.

Quality evaluation of commercial extracts of Scutellaria baicalensis.

Botanical products have been widely used for various illnesses and general well-being. However, quality control of botanical products is often not performed due to lack of standardization, resulting in inconsistent efficacies and sometimes serious toxicity. The goals of this study were to determine the correlation between chemical composition and biological activities and to establish a method to measure authenticity, chemical consistency, and biological potency of botanical products. A high-performance liquid chromatography method was used to analyze the authenticity and chemical composition of 10 different commercial extracts. The cell viability assay and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) enzyme immunoassay were used to analyze biological potency and consistency. Our results showed all extracts contained marker components (baicalein and/or baicalin), confirming their authenticity. However, significant product-to-product and batch-to-batch variation of these marker components was observed with 4 products containing no baicalin at all and baicalein concentration ranging from 0 to 52.3 g/mg. The 50% growth inhibition concentration of the extracts ranged from 0.18 to 2.0 mg/ml, more than an 11-fold variation. PGE2 levels varied from 19.5 to 111.1 pg/106 cells, more than a 5.7-fold difference. These results demonstrated significant variation in chemical composition and biological activities of the commercial extracts and that the amount of marker components may not reflect biological activity levels. Therefore, chemical analysis alone is inadequate for quality control, and biological assays must be included for botanical products to ensure chemical authenticity as well as pharmacological/biological potency and consistency.