ABSTRACT
Fermented Chinese medicine has long been used. Amid the advance for preservation of experience, the connotation of fermented Chinese medicine has been enriched and improved. However, fermented Chinese medicine prescriptions generally contain a lot of medicinals. The fermentation process is complicated and the conventional fermentation conditions fail to be strictly controlled. In addition, the judgment of the fermentation end point is highly subjective. As a result, quality of fermented Chinese medicine is of great difference among regions and unstable. At the moment, the quality standards of fermented Chinese medicine are generally outdated and different among regions, with simple quality control methods and lacking objective safe fermentation-specific evaluation indictors. It is difficult to comprehensively evaluate and control the quality of fermented medicine. These problems have aroused concern in the industry and also affected the clinical application of fermented Chinese medicine. This article summarized and analyzed the application, quality standards, and the modernization of fermentation technology and quality control methods of fermented Chinese medicine and proposed suggestions for improving the quality standards of the medicine, with a view to improving the overall quality of it.
Subject(s)
Medicine, Chinese Traditional , Reference Standards , Quality Control , FermentationABSTRACT
This review made a systematic textual research on the historical evolution and changes of the origin， producing areas and quality， harvest time and processing methods， and cultivation technique of Poria in famous classical formulas from the Catalogue of Ancient Famous Classical Formulas （the First Batch） by referring to the literature of ancient materia medica and medical books combining with the modern literature in CNKI， Wanfang Data and other databases， which could provide reference for the development and research of the famous classical formulas containing Poria. According to the research， the origin of Poria in ancient times was the dried sclerotia of Poria cocos. The producing area of Poria is widely distributed in China， mainly produced in Anhui， Hubei， Henan and Yunnan provinces. The quality of Poria from Yunnan is better， and the yield is larger in Anhui and Hubei provinces. The quality evaluation of Poria is basically the same from ancient to modern， which has the characteristics of large block， heavy weight， thin and wrinkled skin， and white and delicate cross section. The harvesting period of Poria is usually in August of the lunar calendar. The initial processing has undergone the evolution from drying in shade in the ancient time to drying in shade after sweating in the modern time. From ancient times to the present， Poria has been processed by cutting to prepare the Fuling lumps and Fuling slices. The cultivation technique has experienced the evolution process of "wild Poria-inoculation of live pine root-basswood cultured". At present， Poria is mainly cultivated by artificial basswood with mature technical methods and abundant yields， which can meet the research and development needs of the famous classical formulas.