Application Progress of Plant Growth Regulator in Production of Chinese Medicinal Materials / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Plant growth regulator （PGR） is mostly a class of chemical synthesis substance with physiological activities similar to plant hormones，which can promote cell elongation，induce vascular differentiation or accelerate tissue aging via regulating the physiological processes such as photosynthesis，respiration，transpiration，signal transduction，substance absorption and operation. PGR has the advantages of small dosage，high efficiency，low toxicity and less residue，and it is widely used in the planting of Chinese medicinal herbs. By consulting the relevant literature published in recent years，this paper briefly summarizes the main types of PGR，e.g.auxins，gibberellins，cytokinins，abscisic acid and ethylene，etc. On the other hand，this article analyzes and sums up the specific applications of PGR in the manufacture of Chinese herbal medicine，for instance，promoting seed germination，improving seed setting rate or fruit setting rate，dwarfing plants，inhibiting reproductive growth，regulating gender differentiation，stimulating fruit falling，enhancing resistance and so on. The problems existing in the practical use of PGR are pointed out，non-differentiation of specific species，unreasonable combination，not paying attention to the operation method，arbitrarily increasing the dose，lack of residue limit standard and reducing the content of some effective components，for example.Meanwhile，some feasible suggestions are put forward.Not only the suitable types of PGR should be selected in a reasonable and standardized manner，but also the appropriate concentration，dosage and period of application should be chosen carefully； the dual effects of PGR on plant growth and active ingredients in medicinal organs should be concerned，so as to improve the yield and avoid the loss of effective components on the basis of ensuring the quality of Chinese medicinal materials； it is necessary to strengthen the registration of PGR in the production of Chinese medicinal materials and establish residue limit standards to provide a monitoring basis for ensuring the safety of Chinese medicine in the future.The scientific use of PGR can promote the increase of agricultural yield and farmers' income，and make the healthy development of Chinese herbal medicine planting industry.

Biological Essence of Component Complexity in Herbal Medicine： Based on Changed Metabolism of Scutellaria baicalensis Under Drought Stress / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To investigate the biological essence of the content variation of differential primary and secondary metabolites in fresh<italic> </italic>roots of <italic>Scutellaria baicalensis </italic>under drought stress. Method:The changes of metabolites were analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass/mass （UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS）. Result:A total of 11 differential compounds were identified from the roots of <italic>S. baicalensis</italic> （VIP≥2）. Under drought stress， citric acid content increased and shikimic acid content decreased， indicating that the drought stress weakened the primary metabolism but strengthened secondary metabolism. Drought stress raised the content and regulated the proportion of various secondary metabolites by modulating the biosynthesis and biotransformation of them. To be specific， the content of free flavonoids with many phenolic hydroxyl groups and high biological activity and pharmacological activity， such as baicalin， wogonoside， baicalein， wogonin， chrysin， eriodictyol， 5，2'，6'-trihydroxy-7，8-dimethoxyflavone， 5，8-dihydroxy-6，7-dimethoxyflavone， and 3，5，7，2'，6'-pentahydroxyflavanone， was significantly increased. The massive compounds， like an intricate buffer， maintain metabolism stable as quickly and accurately as possible through biosynthesis and biotransformation， thus responding to the changing environment， which reveals how the quality of genuine regional drugs is influenced and why compounds in herbal medicine are complex. Conclusion:Secondary metabolites with low content but high activity are important influencing factors of medicinal material quality and metabolites with high content and high activity are evaluation indicators of genuine regional drug quality.

Discussion on concept of genuine medicinal materials and its use standard / 中草药

The origin place and quality of the traditional medicinal materials have been revolutionized in the last hundred years. The cultivated one, loom larger and larger, have become popular, with a result of declined quality, varied origin place, lack of criterion to measure quality, and confused definition usage, etc. The famous-region drug, with a high quality, should be defined not only as the origin place, but also as specific germplasm, ecological condition, and modes of production. On the basis of defining the concept of genuine medicinal materials, optimizing germplasm resources and origin place and strengthening the research of quality formation would be a main route to improve the quality of cultivated medicinal materials and promote the healthy development of traditional Chinese medicine industry.

Problems and countermeasures in development of Chinese materia medica resource / 中草药

With the increase in population and depletion of resources, the wild resources of Chinese materia medica are not enough to meet the demand of human, so the cultivated resources become a major source, resulting in severe degradation of herbal medicine quality. It poses a serious threat to traditional Chinese medicine with thousands of years of history. The cultivation is the most basic and effective means to solve the shortage of resources, and improving the quality of the cultivated medicinal materials is the key to deal with this problem. In this paper, the current production and developments of herbal medicine were discussed, the problems of blindly expanding planting area, lack of enough attention to germ plasm resource and advanced production technology were prevalent. The idea of improving the quality and yield of cultivated medicinal materials was put forward. On the premise of improving the quality and yield of medicinal materials, the cultivation of Chinese medicinal materials should optimize the planting area, standardize the cultivation of fine high-quality germplasm, improve the production technology of high-quality medicinal materials, and expand the application market of Chinese materia medica to expand Chinese traditional culture.

Exogenous H₂O₂ regulated secondary metabolism of Scutellaria baicalensis and enhanced drug quality / 中国中药杂志

The increasing demand of Chinese materia medica could not be supplied by wild resource, and the cultivated medicinal materials become popular, which led to decreased quality of many medicinal materials due to the difference of the circumstance between the wild and the cultivated. How to improve quality becomes key points of Chinese medicine resource. The leaves of Scutellaria baicalensis were sprayed with H₂O₂, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) changed little, but there had been a marked decrease of peroxidase (POD) and ascorbic oxidase (APX), which showed that the antioxidase system declined. Meanwhile, H₂O₂, as enhanced the expression of phenylalnine ammonialyase (PAL) and β-glucuronidase (GUS) as well as activity of PAL, promoted the biosynthesis and biotransformation of flavonoids. At the day 2 after treated, H₂O₂ of 0.004 μmol·L⁻¹ the contents of the baicalin and the wogonoside decreased slightly, but the contents of the baicalein and the wogonin increased significantly, the baicalein from 0.094% to 0.324%, the wogonin from 0.060% to 0.110%, i. e. increased 246% and 83.3%, respectively.

Effect of salicylic acid on photosynthesis, physio-biochemistry and quality of Panax ginseng under full sun shine in spring / 中国中药杂志

In order to search for a new pathway to improve the yield of ginseng through growing at the full sun shine accompanied by salicylic acid (SA), the net photosynthetic rate (P(n)), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), malondialdehyde (MDA) in Panax ginseng leaves, and the content of ginsenosides in roots were compared under various concentrations of SA and full sun shine with the traditional shade shed. Under the full sun shine, 0.05, 0.2 mmol x L(-1) SA increased net photosynthetic rate to a great extent. Under the cloudy day, the average net photosynthetic rate increased by 127.8% and 155.0% over the traditional shade shed, 13.9% and 27.5% over the treatment without SA respectively; under the clear day, 23.5% and 30.4% over the traditional shade shed, 8.6% and 14.6% over the treatment without SA, particularly obvious in the morning and late afternoon. With such concentration, SA increased activities of SOD, CAT, POD, and decreased the contents of the MDA. This difference resulted from different light intensity, rise of light saturation point, and fall of compensation point. Full sun shine decreased ginsenosides contents, but with SA, the ginsenosides regained, the content of Rg1 and Re, Rb1, total six types of ginsenosides in SA 0.2 mmol x L(-1) group were higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05) and other groups. The application of 0.2 mmol x L(-1) SA under full sun shine during a short time has little threat to the P. ginseng in spring, and could enhance the resistance to the adversity, which would improve the yield of ginseng heavily.

Progress of serum pharmacochemistry of traditional Chinese medicine and further development of its theory and method / 中国中药杂志

Serum pharmacochemistry of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is designed to screen the efficacy material base of TCMs from the constituents absorbed into the blood after oral administration. The theory and method is in accordance with the effect characteristics of TCMs, and reflects the interaction between the body and the drugs, has become an effective pathway for researching the efficacy material base of TCMs which has been recognized and used widely. In the paper, the previous research contents and methods of the serum pharmacochemistry of TCM were reviewed, and on the basis of the further validity of the special administration form of the TCM formula and the corresponding property to TCM syndrome, the new strategy of serum pharmacochemistry of TCM integrating the metabonomics technologies was put forward. According to the strategy, we take the biological characters of TCM syndrome as a research starting point, taking TCM formula as object, using the metabolic biomarkers of syndromes or disease to evaluate the therapeutic effect of formula and screen the compounds of TCMs in serum which are highly correlated with the metabolic biomarkers through the correlation analysis, and by further biological validation to finally confirm the efficacy material basis of TCMs. Integrating with the systems biology technologies, the theory and method of serum pharmacochemistry of TCM will further develop, and open a new chapter in the interpretation of the theory of TCM.

Overview of traditional Chinese medicine quality evaluation method based on overall research / 中国中药杂志

The establishment of quality evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine system that not only accords with Chinese medicine function characteristics but also is recognized as international medical circles, is an arduous task in urgent need of solving the current modernization of traditional Chinese medicine in the process of internationalization. It is difficult to evaluate atraditional Chinese medicine by detection of single active components in traditional Chinesemedicinewiththe western medicine quality controlmethod due to the overall effects of traditional Chinese drugs, the components of the overall diversity, targets, and the complexity of the interaction between components of unpredictable make the Long-term since, domestic and foreign scholars continue to explore and put forward a series of quality evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine to promote the development of traditional Chinese medicine. This article summarized the related academic ideas and developments to, providea new thought and perspective for the quality control of traditional Chinese medicine.

On formation factors of major producing areas for Chinese materia medica and planting regionalization / 中国中药杂志

After China's foundations, the diminution in wild medicinal plants, social progress, and improvement of science and technology level promoted the cultivation development of the traditional Chinese medicine, the traditional Chinese medicine from cultivation will become the principal source of future commodity. The broad of wide distribution, diversity of environment, and the difference of cultivation benefit formed major producing areas. According to the ecological factors and social and economic development of major producing areas, major producing areas could be divided into quality oriented, yield oriented, benefit oriented, humanity oriented, special environment oriented, and integrated factors oriented, based on the quality and the yield of the Chinese medicine, and economic benefit. The results could provides scientific guidance for the choice of a new optimum growing areas.

Studies on the method for the processing roots of cultivated Saposhnikovia divaricata / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establishing a standard processing method for cultivated Saposhnikovia divaricata.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Crude drug was dried at different temperature, and the contents of prim-O-glucosyl-cimifugin,cimifugin,4'-O-beta-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol, sec-O-glucosyl-hamaudol in the processed crude drug were determined by HPLC.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Of the contents of the four compounds, the sample that heated by 45 degrees C was at the best level. Prim-O-glucosggl-cinmifugin was 0.636%, cimifugin was 0.043%, 5-O-methtlvsamminol was 0.598%, sec-O-glu-cosyl-hamaudol was 1.85%, and total content was 1.302%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The best drying temperature for processing is 45 degrees C.</p>