ABSTRACT
Quality evaluation based on character identification of traditional Chinese medicinal materials is the wisdom crystallization of the long-term medication experience of the pharmacists in the past dynasties， and is a quality evaluation system with the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）. Because of its simple language， easy to understand and easy to operate， it plays an important guiding role in the quality evaluation of TCM. Modern electronic sensory apparatus technology can realize the objective expression of TCM characters. Some scholars correlated their expression results with the contents of the main chemical components in TCM， proving that quality evaluation based on character identification of traditional Chinese medicinal materials has a certain scientific basis. However， the scientific connotation of quality evaluation based on character identification of traditional Chinese medicinal materials has not yet been clearly clarified. There is a lack of systematic research on which characters of TCM can truly reflect its quality. Therefore， the author summarizes quality evaluation based on character identification of traditional Chinese medicinal materials from three aspects. It makes clear that the idea of quality evaluation based on character identification of traditional Chinese medicinal materials is derived from analogical thinking， and combs the four stages of germination， development， prosperity and maturity experienced in its formation process， summarizes the modern research progress of this theory， clarifies that the role of the theory in evaluating the quality of medicinal materials， guiding the classification of commodity specifications， and harvesting and processing of medicinal materials. It is recommended that the follow-up should be strengthened on the research of quality evaluation based on character identification of traditional Chinese medicinal materials， make full use of electronic sensory instruments， liquid-mass spectrometry， biological efficacy evaluation and other technologies， strengthen the objective description of the characteristics of TCM， and attach importance to the analysis of the correlation between the overall characteristics of TCM and its efficacy， and establish a new research model related to the characteristics-active ingredients-pharmaceutical effects of TCM， in order to elucidate the scientific connotation of quality evaluation based on character identification of traditional Chinese medicinal materials， so as to better serve the quality evaluation of TCM.
ABSTRACT
The growth years of traditional Chinese medicinal materials are closely related to their quality, which directly affects the efficacy and safety of clinical medication. Therefore, it is particularly important to establish an identification method for the growth years of traditional Chinese medicinal materials. In this review, the identification methods for the growth years of traditional Chinese medicinal materials were summarized systematically, and were divided into four types according to the identification principles and methods: traditional identification, molecular identification, physical/chemical identification, and integrated identification. Relying on rich experience, objective molecular markers, various physical/chemical methods and integrated identification techniques(including infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, bionic identification technology and their tandem technologies, etc.), the differences of characters or chemical fingerprints were compared in depth. The growth years of traditional Chinese medicinal materials were quickly identified or predicted by the appearance and characters, the whole fingerprint information or the content of specific chemical markers, and their content ratios. Through the case analysis of mature varieties, we intend to promote the establishment of a perfect technology system for the identification of the growth years of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, and to provide a reference for other perennial herbal materials, finally resulting in the accurate and precise quality control of traditional Chinese medicinal materials.
Subject(s)
Humans , China , Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid , Drugs, Chinese Herbal , Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry , Medicine, Chinese TraditionalABSTRACT
The traditional Chinese medicinal materials industry is an important part of the "10 + 3" industrial system of modern agriculture in Sichuan Province. To achieve the development goal that the output is growing twice as fast as scale, it is necessary to explore the high-quality development path of traditional Chinese medicinal materials industry. Through the field survey of traditional Chinese medicine materials industry in Sichuan Province, the new characteristics based on resource advantages are summarized, the problems and the main obstacles in the development of the industry are analyzed, and some suggestions focused on "making large scale and strong benefit" are put forward. In the suggestions, the key to scaling up is planning and marketing, and the key to making high benefit is to improve quality and stability.
ABSTRACT
The identification of Chinese materia medica (CMM) characters, an important part of the quality standard of CMM, is one of the overall quality indicators of CMM. It is an old technical problem facing the inheritance and innovation of experience identification of Chinese medicine industry. However, the regulation of CMM characters recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia and other local drug standards and processing specifications are still staying at words description, relying on human sensory judgment, so the operability needs to be improved. This paper puts forward the proposal to establish a quality standard for CMM identification for the use of reference herbal pieces and Chinese medicinal herb for the identification of characters, and provides basic support for the objective digital research of CMM characters identification, which is helpful to improve the quality evaluation of CMM.
ABSTRACT
According to the status of the 2015 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia and following the idea of establishing the most rigorous standard, to provide constructive suggestions for the revision of the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia, three suggestions are put forward to the current compilation work as follows: the name about multi-sourced traditional Chinese medicine; Non-standard traditional Chinese medicine entered the prescription of Chinese medicine in Chinese Pharmacopoeia; The font and order of words standardization of Latin scientific name of traditional Chinese medicine.
ABSTRACT
Based on the data of “National Chinese Medicine Resources Census and Germplasm Sharing Data Special Service-Poverty Alleviation of Chinese Medicine Industry” and “Kangmei Chinese Medicine Network-Service Platform of Chinese Medicine Whole Industry Chain”, the information of traditional Chinese medicinal materials (TCMM) resources in poverty-stricken areas was collated and analyzed, the database of planting area and output value of Chinese medicine in poverty-stricken areas was constructed, and the species in poverty-stricken areas were plotted by ArcGIS software. The spatial distribution map of the situation of herbal medicine planting can discover and summarize the spatial pattern characteristics and development rules of poverty alleviation in Chinese herbal medicine industry. On this basis, by referring to the relevant reports of “China Poverty Reduction Database” and “Office of the Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development of the State Council”, this paper comprehensively analyses the main factors affecting poverty alleviation in the traditional Chinese medicine industry, and puts forward corresponding suggestions, hoping to provide beneficial references for the extensive poverty alleviation work in poor areas.
ABSTRACT
To clarify the present situation and the limiting factors of the development of the genuine Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata industry, which is important to fully explore the development potential of the genuine Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata industry and promote the adjustment and optimization of its industrial structure. Through SWOT model, the advantages, disadvantages, opportunities and challenges in the development process of genuine Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata industry were analyzed, and some suggestions on how to speed up the development of genuine Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata industry were put forward.
ABSTRACT
Seeds are the source of the Chinese medicine industry. The accurate identification of seeds is not only related to the genuineness of Chinese medicinal materials, but also related to the safety and effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine. Since a large proportion of Chinese medicinal material seeds are small in size, rich in inclusions, and their morphological characters are easy to be changed by the grade of maturity and environmental conditions, it is difficult to identify seeds through traditional methods. DNA barcoding is a novel genetic method designed for accurate species identification using a standard DNA locus, and it has gradually become a research hotspot for the seed authentication of Chinese medicinal materials. In this paper, we briefly summarized the recent research developments of the DNA barcoding identification for Chinese medicinal material seeds, demonstrate the technical characteristics of using DNA barcoding to authenticate the seeds of Chinese medicinal materials, and pointed out that different protocols should be employed according to the types of seeds. We further proposed a research method for the identification of commercially available Chinese medicinal materials seed mixtures using the DNA metabarcoding, which provides new ideas for the identification of Chinese medicinal material seeds.
ABSTRACT
Traditional Chinese medicinal materials (TCMM) are the material basis for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and the quality of the herbals was closely related with the efficacy and safety of TCM in clinic. Aiming at the difficulty in the quality evaluation of TCMM, some genuine herbals in Shanxi province, such as Astragali Radix, Farfarae Flos, and Buplerui Radix, were used as example, to investigate the application potential of the metabolomic approach. In order to lay the foundation for the accurate quality evaluation and further improvement of quality standard of TCMM, the studies in the recent ten years were summarized, and the prospect as well as the future research focus was also discussed.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To establish the common model of four kinds of rattan traditional Chinese medicinal materials (TCMM) (Paederiae Scandens Caulis, Lonicerae Japonicae Caulis, Polygoni Multiflori Caulis, and Ipomoea batatas Caulis) determinate the drying kinetic parameters, and study the stability of active ingredients in the drying process. Methods: The experimental data of four rattan TCMM were fitted to the nine thin layer models (Page, Wang and Singh, Two-term exponential, Newton, Logarithmic, Aghbashlo, Two-term, Midilli, Diffusion approach) at the temperature of 40, 50, 60, and 70 ℃. R2, χ2, and RMSE were used as the criterion of fit. Fick diffusion law was used to calculate the drying dynamical parameters. Based on the principle of chemical kinetics, the stability of active ingredients in the drying process was studied. Results: Aghbashlo model was the best one to describe drying process of four rattan TCMM. The effective moisture diffusion coefficients D and activation energy Ea of four rattan TCMM were between 1 × 10−10 and 1 × 10−9 m2/s and 40—50 kJ/mol respectively. The degradation reactions of ursolic acid, THSG, and polysaccharide conformed to the first-order kinetic equation. The content of chlorogenic acid increased with the drying temperature and drying time increased. Conclusion: The drying dynamical parameters values of TCMM with different parts have different ranges, their drying process should be described by a common model. The quality of TCMM was affected greatly by drying process.
ABSTRACT
Animal-derived medicinal materials as the integral part play an extremely important role in the application of Chinese material medica (CMM), which are considered to have the advantages of strong activity, great potential, and wide applications. With the increasing demands for animal-derived medicinal materials, a large number of counterfeit, inferior, and confusing products have appeared in the market, which has seriously affected the use and quality evaluation of animal-derived medicinal materials. At the same time, the research development on identification and quality evaluation of animal-derived medicinal materials is slower than that of plant-derived medicinal materials, and the system is weak, especially lacking of characteristic and exclusive identification index and evaluation means. Therefore, how to establish and perfect the quality evaluation system of animal-derived medicinal materials is particularly important and will become the focus and hot work in the future. In this paper, the research progress of animal-derived medicinal materials identification and quality evaluation methods is summarized, and the problems and challenges in constructing its quality evaluation system are analyzed, so as to provide reference and new ideas for the establishment and improvement of animal medicine quality evaluation system.
ABSTRACT
The issues of mycotoxin contamination in herbal materials have been frequently reported in recent years, which has attracted broad attention at home and abroad. Mycotoxins can trigger hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, and other significant toxic effects, threatening the consumer health seriously. Aspergillus species are one of the main sources of fungal contamination in herbal materials. The rapid and accurate identification of Aspergillus species in herbal materials can provide early warning of mycotoxin contamination, which is of great significance for ensuring the efficacy and safety of herbal materials. In this study, the research progress on the classification and discrimination of Aspergillus species were systematically summarized. Moreover, the identification of Aspergillus species in herbal materials was also reviewed. Meanwhile, we explored the prospect of identifying Aspergillus species in Chinese herbal medicines using high-throughput sequencing.
ABSTRACT
More and more disputes have happened to confront continuously since the separation of Lonicera Japonicae Flos and Lonicerae Flos in the 2005 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia, however, there are no differences in the properties, flavors, and channel tropism, functions of curing, usage and dosage in the 2015 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia. By consulting literatures on the medical history, identification, chemical composition, pharmacological action, quality control, and other aspects of Lonicera Japonicae Flos and Lonicerae Flos at home and abroad in recent years, we explore the similarities and differences between Lonicera Japonicae Flos and Lonicerae Flos, and the key issues of quality control in order to solve the problem of the combination and separation between them, which can lay a foundation for promoting the development of traditional Chinese medicinal materials industry.
ABSTRACT
The integration of the habitat processing and the processing of Chinese herbal medicine is an effective way to ensure the quality of Chinese medicine decoction pieces. This paper analyzes the historical origins, generation and practice, and modern research results of “integration”. It is believed that “integration” is a historical inevitable trend of industry development, and it can effectively solve the problems of the confusion in habitat processing and the difficulty in ensuring the quality of the pieces. It has the positive meaning of being able to clarify product attributes and regulate the management of pieces, abandon the repeated links and simultaneously improve the quality of the pieces and the benefits of the enterprise, and change the status of scattered processing of Chinese herbal medicines in the field, ensure the cleanliness of the production environment and comprehensively improve mechanized production. From the current research results, “integration” can simplify the processing technology, retain more active ingredients and improve the efficacy of drugs, but some Chinese herbal medicines are not suitable for integration. It is suggested to further strengthen the basic research of the integrated decoction pieces in the future, further improve the standardization system of integrated decoction pieces, carry out top-level design of “integration” and cooperate with each other to ensure the healthy and orderly development of “integration”.
ABSTRACT
Persicae semen has been used for years as a traditional Chinese medicine to treat diseases. Because of their similar morphologies, Persicae semen was commonly inadvertently mixed with Armeniacae semen amarum (a toxic herbal seed). Development of a reliable method for discriminating Persicae semen from its adulterant is necessary to reduce confusion for the drug safety in clinical practices. This study evaluates the efficiency of high-resolution melting (HRM) combined with internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) to analyze Persicae semen. Our findings show that HRM allows not only the identification of adulteration but also the quantification of the most common admixture. HRM sensitivity in adulterant detection was assessed through the analysis of mixing samples with different proportions of Prunus persica and Prunus armeniaca control. The results are presented as a linear regression with r of 0.96 and imply the capability of the method to detect adulteration. In particular, HRM detected seeds of Prunus persica in Prunus armeniaca at concentrations as low as 1%, and commercial products labeled as ‘Persicae semen’ were purchased from markets and could rapid authenticated by HRM analyses. This study is significant in the verification of the authenticity in the quality control of herbal medicine. In the near future, it is promising to be the main trend for identifying traditional Chinese medicinal materials.
ABSTRACT
"Assessing the quality by distinguishing features of traditional Chinese medicinal materials" is a characteristic quality evaluation system of traditional Chinese medicine, and it is also the basis of "Rating according to characters and setting the price by the grade" on the market. Astragali Radix was regarded as a famous traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and this paper has carried out herbal textual research on the development and formation of the concept, "assessing the quality by distinguishing features of traditional Chinese medicinal materials", of Astragali Radix. The authentic medicine producing areas of Astragalus in China have experienced a great change, Gansu , Sichuan and adjacent areas before the Tang Dynasty; Shanxi during the Tang and Song Dynasty. The concept, "assessing the quality by distinguishing features of traditional Chinese medicinal materials", of Astragali Radix was formed in the Song and Ming Dynasty and still used today, which described as that the shape is "straight as an arrow"; the texture is "soft as cotton"; the section looks like" gold well and jade hurdle"; it was sweet in taste and has beany flavor. The system, "assessing the quality by distinguishing features of traditional Chinese medicinal materials", of Astragali Radix has undergone the adjustments from "true or false" to "good or bad", advance with the times, pick out the advantages from others and absorb the experience of traditional identification actively. Besides, it always returns to laconism from erudition and was summarized highly. Assessing the quality by distinguishing features of traditional Chinese medicinal materials and commodity specifications have the same root, so the former has reference meaning to revise the latter.
ABSTRACT
High-resolution-melting analysis (HRM) is a new technology derived from qPCR and is widely used in the study of polymorphism, genotyping, and single nucleotide mutation. Advantages of HRM include cost-effectiveness and time-efficiency over PCR-based genotyping. However, the application of HRM in the authentication of herbal products is still limited with few studies on the classification and identification of herbal products. In this study, Cimicifugae Rhizoma was used as an example to verify the stability and accuracy of HRM technique in identification of Chinese materia medica. HRM assay was established for identification based on ITS2 region of Cimicifugae Rhizomas and its adulterants (including 41 samples). Our findings showed that HRM allows not only the identification of adulteration but also the quantification of the most common admixture. This study is significant for better quality in the verification of the authenticity of herbal medicine. The method is promising for future identification of traditional Chinese medicinal materials.
ABSTRACT
Circulation of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, as the vital part of the TCM industrial chain, plays an important role in the connection of agriculture link and industry link of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, which has influence on the healthy development of the whole TCM industrial chain. Because circulation activities mainly include exchange and storage activities instead of manufacturing real products, they are much more difficult to be managed compared with producing activity. This would lead to problems in circulation of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, and impose negative effects on TCM industry. Based on scale economy theory, information asymmetry theory and cobweb model theory, this article analyzed the problems in circulation of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, discussed the deep reasons behind these problems, and proposed relevant suggestions for optimization.
ABSTRACT
As an important part of the market commodity circulation, the standard grade of Chinese traditional medicine commodity is very important to restrict the market order and guarantee the quality of the medicinal material. The State Council issuing the "protection and development of Chinese herbal medicine (2015-2020)" also make clear that the important task of improving the circulation of Chinese herbal medicine industry norms and the commodity specification standard of common traditional Chinese medicinal materials. However, as a large class of Chinese herbal medicines, the standard grade of the radix is more confused in the market circulation, and lack of a more reasonable study model in the development of the standard. Thus, this paper summarizes the research background, present situation and problems, and several key points of the commodity specification and grade standard in radix herbs. Then, the research model is introduced as an example of Pseudostellariae Radix, so as to provide technical support and reference for formulating commodity specifications and grades standard in other radix traditional Chinese medicinal materials.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To use the extracts from traditional Chinese medicinal materials (TCMM) for reduction of Ag+ to obtain the corresponding silver nanomaterials and study its antibacterial activity. Methods: Nano-silver solution was prepared by Rhei Radix et Rhizoma and other 15 kinds of TCMM extracts, the size and distribution of silver nanoparticles were studied using HPPS, TEM, and UV. The antibacterial activities of silver nanoparticles were investigated by disk agar diffusion method and double dilution method. Results: Preparation rate and reaction rate of silver nanoparticles prepared with the water extract of Rhei Radix et Rhizoma, Polygoni Multiflori Radix Praeparata, Moslae Herba were ideal. Prepared silver nanoparticles with diameter about 100 nm, good uniformity, and good dispersibility have the obvious inhibitory effect on the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Among them, Polygoni Multiflori Radix Praeparata-silver nano has the strongest bacteriostatic effect. Conclusion: TCMM as a natural bio-reducing agents, can be used to prepare the silver nanoparticles.