Complex ecological and socioeconomic impacts on medicinal plant diversity.

Medicinal plant diversity (MPD) is an important component of plant diversity. Over-collection based on medicinal and economic value has the potential to damage the stability of the regional ecosystem. It is important to understand the current distribution of MPD and the factors influencing it. However, it is still unclear whether environmental and socioeconomic conditions have an impact on their distribution. We selected the Inner Mongolia as a representative study area which covers a wide area, accounting for 12.29% of China's national land area and 0.79% of the world's land area. At the same time, the region is a long-standing traditional medicinal area for Mongolians in China. Therefore, the region is significantly influenced by changes in environmental factors and socio-economic factors. We used 9-years field survey of the distribution of medicinal plants in Inner Mongolia for assessing the distribution of MPD as influenced by environmental and socioeconomic activities by combining spatial analyses, species distribution models, and generalized additive models. The results from the spatial analysis show that the western region of Inner Mongolia is the main cold spot area of the MPD, and the central-eastern and northeastern regions of Inner Mongolia are the main hot spot areas of the MPD. At the same time, the distribution of cold spots and hot spots of MPD is more obvious at large spatial scales, and with the refinement of spatial scales, the cold spots in scattered areas are gradually revealed, which is indicative for the conservation and development of MPD at different spatial scales. Under the future climate change of shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP), areas with high habitat suitability for medicinal plants remain mainly dominated by the Yellow River, Yin Mountains, and Greater Khingan Range. Notably, the SSP245 development pathway remains the most significant concern in either long- or short-term development. The nonlinear relationship between the driving factors of MPD at different spatial scales shows that temperature, precipitation and socioeconomic development do have complex effects on MPD. The presence of a certain temperature, altitude, and precipitation range has an optimal facilitation effect on MPD, rather than a single facilitation effect. This complex nonlinear correlation provides a reference for further studies on plant diversity and sustainable development and management. In this study, the spatial distribution of medicinal plant resources and the extent to which they are driven by ecological and socioeconomic factors were analyzed through a macroscopic approach. This provides a reference for larger-scale studies on the environmental and socioeconomic influences on the distribution of plant resources.

[Application of remote sensing technology in medicinal plant resources].

The sustainable use of medicinal plants is the foundation of the inheritance of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) and the acquisition of information on medicinal plants is the basis for the development of TCM. The traditional methods of investigating medicinal plant resources are disadvantageous in strong subjectivity and poor timeliness, making it difficult to real-time monitor medicinal plant resources. In recent years, remote sensing technology has become an important means of obtaining information on medicinal plants. The application of this technology has made up for the shortcomings of traditional methods. The open-access remote sensing data with medium spatial resolution satellites provide an opportunity for extracting information on medicinal plant resources. This study firstly introduced the principles of remote sensing technology, summarized the satellites and the parameters commonly used in the field of medicinal plant resources, and compared the survey methods of remote sensing technology with traditional methods. Secondly, it reviewed the applications of remote sensing technology in the extraction of information on the cultivation of medicinal plants and the common methods for extracting the planting structure information of medicinal plants based on remote sensing technology. Thirdly, the applications of remote sensing technology in the investigation and monitoring of medicinal plants were further analyzed with the research objects divided into wild and cultivated medicinal plants according to the characteristics of the habitats. Finally, it pointed out the key unsolved technical problems in the remote sensing monitoring of medicinal plant resources, and proposed solutions for the intelligent information processing of medicinal plants based on remote sensing big data, which is expected to provide references for the development of remote sensing technology in derivative application in medicinal plant resources.

[Research of estimation methods on medicinal plant resources reserves].

The medicinal plant resource reserve refers to the natural resources of medicinal plants in a certain time and a certain region within the scope of the volume. In recent years, with the demand of medicinal plant resources surging and the change of the environment and human intervention factors, the medicinal plant resources reserve had accelerated pace of change. It is the prerequisite and basis for the development and utilization of medical plants that how to quickly and accurately attain reserve of some medicinal plants resources, the selection of suitable and accurate estimating method is reliable basis and can guarantee medicinal plant reserve survey, and also is one of the key reserve investigation of success. This paper systematically summarized the estimation method of medicinal plants in recent 30 years, and discussed the basic principle, the estimation model of development and evolution, advantages and disadvantages and applicability, and it aimed to improve the accuracy about reserves survey of medicinal plant resources, and provide scientific and reliable support data to medicinal plants resources for sustainable development and utilization of resources.

Effects of Rbl on action potentials and force of contraction in guinea pig ventricular papillary muscles / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effects of Rbl on action potentials and force of contraction in guinea pig ventricular papillary muscles.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The ventricular papillary muscles of guinea pig were isolated regularly and immersed with Tyrode, s solution. The effects of Rbl (purified saponins of panaxnotoginseng) on the action potentials (AP), the slow action potentials and the force of contraction (FC) of the muscles were studied. The AP and FC were measured synchronously.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Rbl shortened the duration of AP, including APD2O and APD90, and reduced the FC(n = 5, P < 0.01), but didn't affect the rest potential (RP), the amplitude of action potential (APA), overshot (OS) and maximal upstrok velocity (Vmax). Rbl also decreased the APA of slow action potential, but quinidine had no such effects.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Rbl may be a channel blocker.</p>