Analysis and suggestions on harvest period standards of plant medicinal materials in 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia / 中国中药杂志

The improvement of the harvest period standards is critical in the quality control of Chinese medicinal materials. The present study statistically analyzed the harvest period standards of plant medicinal materials in the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia(Vol.Ⅰ) and put forward the existing problems and suggestions based on herbal records and modern research to provide references for the improvement of the standards. According to the statistical analysis, in 499 types of plant medicinal materials, harvest period standards are recorded under 486 types, accounting for 97.4%, and are lacking in the remaining. Only one medicinal material(Stellariae Radix) is recorded with the standard of the harvest year. The standards of the harvest season and phenological period are recorded under 233 types, accounting for 46.7%. For 237 types, only harvest season is specified, accounting for 47.5%, and for 15 types, only harvest phenological period is specified, accounting for 3.0%. Among 222 types mainly derived from cultivation and 51 types from wild resources and cultivation, only 11 types are recorded with harvest period of cultivated products. Only Stellariae Radix is recorded with the harvest period standards for the wild and cultivated products separately. The harvest period standards of plant medicinal materials with different medicinal parts have certain rules to follow. The main problems about the harvest period standards are discovered. Specifically, no harvest period standards are recorded under 13 types of plant medicinal materials. Almost all perennial cultivated medicinal materials are not recorded with harvest year standard. No phenological period standard is found under 250 types of plant medicinal materials. There is no clear distinction between the harvest period standards of cultivated and wild products. The evidence for harvest period standards of 26 types of plant medicinal materials that can be harvested all year round is insufficient. As a result, it is proposed to strengthen basic research in response to the above-mentioned problems and improve the harvest period standards as soon as possible to ensure the quality of Chinese medicinal materials.

Comprehensive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of alcohol extracts from Chrysanthemum indicum in different areas based on entropy weight and TOPSIS methodology / 中国中药杂志

The study is aiming at investigating the application of entropy weight TOPSIS method in the comparison of the scavenging effect of DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radical and the inhibition effect of xanthine oxidase(XOD) and lipoxygenase(LOX) of Chrysanthemum indicum. The DPPH, ABTS, salicylic acid and spectrophotometry were used to determine the scavenging effect of DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radical and the inhibition effect of xanthine oxidase(XOD) and lipoxygenase(LOX) of Ch. indicum from 31 different areas in vitro. Take the half inhibition rate of as the evaluation index, two principal components were extracted by the principal component analysis, and their cumulative contribution rate reached at 92.4%. The different areas of Ch. indicum could be divided into Dabei Mountain and Qinling-Taihang Mountain by use principal component to analysis. The entropy weight TOPSIS method was used to objectively assign weights to five indexes, calculate the weight of each index and set up the best and worst scheme of the evaluation object, and the relative proximity(C_i) was used as the measure to construct the multi-index comprehensive evaluation model of Ch. indicum. And then sort with the relative proximity value. The results showed that the relative proximity was between 0.098 and 0.983 which represents there were significant differences in the scavenging effect of DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radical and the inhibition effect of xanthine oxidase(XOD) and lipoxygenase(LOX) between extracts of Ch. indicum from different areas. The Ch. indicum from Dabie Mountain area have a relatively high relative degree of measurement and high-quality ranking. Taken together, the quality of Ch. indicum.from the Dabie Mountain area is better. The index weight coefficient and the classification result of producing area are basically consistent with the result of principal component analysis. The results show that the TOPSIS method based on entropy weight method can be used to evaluate the comprehensive quality of Ch. indicum.

Selection and validation of reference genes for quantitative Real-time PCR analysis in Amana edulis / 中国中药杂志

Amana edulis is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant with low propagation coefficient. In recent years, the increasing demands of A. edulis lead to a shortage of its wild resources. In order to analyze the expression of related functional genes in A. edulis, the selection of suitable internal reference genes is crucial to improve the accuracy of experimental results. Eight genes(ACT, TUA, CYP, GAPDH, UBQ, UBI, EF1a, UBC)were chosen as candidate reference genes based on the RNA-Seq. Real-time fluorescence quantitative technique was used to detect the expression level of candidate internal reference genes in different organs(bulb, leaf, flo-wer) and stolons at different development stages of A. edulis. Then GeNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper softwares and RefFinder website were used for a comprehensive analysis of the expression stability of the candidate genes.The results showed that among the 8 candidate reference genes, the variation range of Ct value of UBC was the smallest, and the expression level was stable, which was suitable for an reference gene. GeNorm and NormFinder software analysis showed that UBC and UBI were the optimal reference genes. BestKeeper analysis showed that CYP and UBC expression were relatively stable. Comprehensive evaluation of RefFinder website showed that UBC and UBI were the most stable genes, and ACT displayed the lowest stability in all software evaluation, indicating UBC and UBI were suitable for reference genes. Additionally, the most stable UBC, UBI and the most unstable ACT were used as internal reference genes to detect the expression of GBSS gene in A. edulis, and expression pattern of GBSS gene was the same under the calibration of UBC and UBI. The expression data of GBSS gene confirmed that UBC and UBI genes were reliable for A. edulis qRT-PCR as internal reference genes. The results would benefit future studies on related gene expression of A. edulis.

Protective effects of aqueous extracts from Sedum sarmentosum growing under different light intensity on CCl_4-induced damage in HepG2 cells / 中国中药杂志

To explore the effect of light intensity in cultivating environment on the hepetoprotective activity of Sedum sarmentosum, S. sarmentosum were planted under five water treatments for 60 days, namely 100% full sunlight(G1), 77% full sunlight(G2), 60% full sunlight(G3), 38% full sunlight(G4), and 16% full sunlight(G5) and CCl_4 drug-induced liver injury model in vitro was used. Cell viability, cell cycle, and cell apoptosis were individually detected by MTT, PI single staining, and Annexin-V FITC/PI double staining assays. Additionally, ALT, AST and antioxidant index in supernatant were determined by colorimetry. And the relationship among the protective effects, chemical composition and antioxidant activity were also analyzed. The results showed that S. sarmentosum aqueous extract could significantly improve the HepG2 cell viability. Among the five S. sarmentosum groups, the cell viability of G1(100% full sunlight) treatment was the highest, and the cell apoptosis was the least. Meanwhile, the level of ALT, AST, and MDA in G1 was the lowest, but it achieved the highest level of SOD and GSH. Moderate light shading(60% full light) also improved the effect of protecting liver and reducing the enzyme. It was found that cell viability was positively correlated with ferricion reducing capacity. ALT activity was positively correlated with isorhamnetin content. Taken together, different light intensity had great influence on hepatoprotective effect of S. sarmentosum, which may be related to its antioxidant capacity. From the perspective of hepetoprotective activity, S. sarmentosum should be planted under full light.

Effects of light intensity on material and energy metabolism of Viola yedoensis / 中国中药杂志

Light energy is an important factor affecting plant growth. The hypothesis of "light-cold and heat property" holds that the original plants of traditional Chinese medicines(TCM) with cold property can obtain more energy to maintain growth in high light intensity environment, whereas the original plants of TCM with heat property prefer weak light environment. The current experiment investigated the effects of different light intensities on primary metabolites levels, energy levels, cell apoptosis, and leaves ultrastructure of Viola yedoensis, the original plants of TCM Violae Herba with cold property. There were five treatment groups of V. yedoensis, which was planted under Li1(8 500 lx),Li2(7 250 lx),Li3(6 000 lx),Li4(4 750 lx),Li5(3 500 lx)LEDs light intensity conditions, respectively. After harvest, primary metabolites levels, contents of ATP, ADP, AMP, activities of ATP synthesis and hydrolysis related enzyme, as well as cell apoptosis activation degree were measured, and transmission electron microscopy technique was used to observe leaves ultrastructure. The results showed that the total sugar, total protein, contents of ATP, ADP and AMP, activities of NADH dehydrogenase, cytochrome C reductase, ATP synthase and ATP hydrolase were positively correlated with light intensities(P<0.05). The crude fat content, activities of SDH and CCO enzyme showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing, the highest value were found in Li2 group and Li3 group respectively(P<0.05). The vitality of caspase-3 and caspase-9 was negatively correlated with light intensities(P<0.05). The structure of chloroplast and mitochondria were normal and intact in Li1-Li3 groups, and the damage degree of Li4 and Li5 groups increased with the decrease of light intensities. The analysis of results indicated that the structure of chloroplast and mitochondria of V. yedoensis is normal under the light intensity of 6 000-8 500 lx, which can obtain more energy to maintain its growth and metabolism. When the light intensity is lower than 4 750 lx, the chloroplast morphology and mitochondrial membrane are damaged, affecting the metabolism of material and energy. There was no significant difference in energy charge of V. yedoensis in the light intensity range of 3 500～8 500 lx. The effect of light intensity on energy metabolism of V. yedoensis accords with the hypothesis of "light-cold and heat property".

Identification of Chrysanthemum indicum and its adulterants based on ITS2 barcode / 中国中药杂志

DNA barcode technology was used to establish a rapid identification method of Chrysanthemum indicum based on ITS2 sequences. The total DNA was extracted from 22 collected samples,and the ITS2 sequence was amplified by PCR and sequenced,and the information of ITS2 sequence was obtained. Another 14 items of the same family or the same genus were downloaded from Gen Bank.We aligned all 36 sequences,calculated the intraspecific and interspecific distances,and constructed Neighbor Joining( NJ) phylogenetic tree,using MEGA 7. 0. The difference of the secondary structure between the ITS2 sequences was compared. The results showed that the genetic distance of Ch. indicum and Ch. morifolium was overlapped,but the maximum intraspecific distance was far less than the minimum interspecific distance between and among Ch. indicum and other species,with an obvious barcoding gap. The NJ tree showed that Ch. indicum and Ch. morifolium shared a clade,and most of Ch. morifolium with some Ch. indicum were shared a subclade,while Inula lineariifolia,Sinosenecio oldhamianus and Senecio scandens belonged to one clade separately. ITS2 secondary structures for I. lineariifolia,S. oldhamianus and S. scandens were significantly different enough to identify completely but Ch. indicum and Ch. morifolium shared two secondary structures of A and B. It was proved that Ch. indicum was one of the evolutionary sources of Ch.morifolium. Therefore ITS2 sequence as DNA barcode can identify Ch. indicum and its adulterants accurately and quickly. The study provides an important basis for Ch. indicum for the identification of germplasm resources and the safety of clinical medication.

Effect of short-day treatment on expression of CO gene in Chrysanthemum indicum / 中国中药杂志

This experiment studied the expression pattern of key gene CO in the photoperiod of Chrysanthemum indicum. The CDS sequence of the Ch. indicum CO gene was cloned by RT-PCR. The open reading frame was 1 380 bp in length and encoded 459 amino acids. The bioinformatics analysis results showed that the Ch. indicum CO had higher homology with Ch. lavandulifolium and Artemisia annua,and the CO was more conservative in the same family. The molecular weight of the predicted protein encode by CO is 52. 04 k Da,the p I is 4. 81,the α-helix structure accounted for 17. 65%,the random coil accounted for 76. 69%,the extension chain accounted for 5. 66%,there are no β-fold and signal peptide. The experimental results showed that short-day treatment could increase the expression level of CO gene in Ch. indicum and induce its flowering. The results of qRT-PCR showed that the relative expression of CO gene in different tissues and different treatment periods of Ch. indicum was significantly different. In this paper,we studied the effect of short-day treatment on the expression of key genes in the flowering cycle of Ch. indicum,providing a basis for photoperiod regulation and harvesting period of Ch.indicum.

Effect of nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium formula fertilizer on growth and chemical composition content of Inula japonica / 中国中药杂志

Inula japonica was used as the research object, "3414" fertilization experiment were conducted to study the effects of nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium formula fertilizer on the growth and chemical composition content of I. japonica. The characteristics of fertilizer requirement were preliminarily revealed and the study provided fertilization guidance for artificial cultivation of I. japonica. The results showed that different nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium formula fertilizers had significant effects on plant morphology,physiological and biochemical indexes,dry matter accumulation and chemical composition content. The growth indexes and chemical components of I. japonica showed an upward trend with the increase of fertilization amount,especially the nitrogen fertilizer was the most significant. The indicators were analyzed by membership function. After comprehensive evaluation,the optimal nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium formula fertilization level was N3 P2 K2,namely high level nitrogen fertilizer,medium level phosphorus fertilizer and potassium fertilizer. I. japonica is a high fertilizer demand plant,and the rational fertilization scheme is " applying nitrogen fertilizer again and applying phosphorus and potassium fertilizer properly".

Effects of light intensity on growth, quality and antioxidant activities of Sedum sarmentosum / 中国中药杂志

The present study was conducted to explore the effect of light intensity on growth, bioactivity compounds accumulation and anti-oxidative activity of Sedum sarmentosum. The growth, yield, contents of total flavonoids, total phenolic, quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin, and antioxidant activities were assessed in S. sarmentosum under five light intensities, namely 100% full sunlight (G1), 77% full sunlight (G2), 60% full sunlight (G3), 38% full sunlight (G4), and 16% full sunlight (G5). The results showed that light intensity significantly affected the growth and the chemical compounds accumulation. With the decrease of light intensity, the maximum branch length and the average internode distance increased. G2 treatment greatly promoted the numbers of leaf layers and branches, and G3 treatment remarkably improved the yield. The highest total flavonoids and phenolic contents were obtained in G3 treatment. Meanwhile, the highest quercetin and isorhamnetin contents were obtained in G1 treatment. The difference of kaempferol content was not significant. In addition, based on DPPH, FTC and FRAP methods, the antioxidant activities of the aqueous extracts under G1 treatment were superior to the others. The results indicated that more than 60% full sunlight was the optimum light intensity condition to achieve high yield and quality of S. sarmentosum.

Protective effects of Sedum sarmentosum under different soil moisture in CCl₄-induced damage in HepG2 cells / 中国中药杂志

At present, there were few studies about the effects of cultivation measures on the quality and pharmacological activity of medicinal plants. To explore the hepetoprotective activity of Sedum sarmentosum aqueous extracts after different water treatments, S. sarmentosum were planted under five water treatments for 60 days, namely 15%-20% FC (field capacity, S1), 35%-40% FC (S2), 55%-60% FC (S3), 75%-80% FC(S4), and 95%-100% FC (S5) and CCl₄ drug-induced liver injury model in vitro was used. Cell viability, cell cycle, and cell apoptosis were individually detected by MTT, PI single staining, and Annexin-V FITC/PI double staining assays. Additionally, ALT, AST and antioxidant index in supernatant were determined by colorimetry. The results showed that, compared with the model group, S. sarmentosum aqueous extract could significantly improve the HepG2 cell viability. Among the five S. sarmentosum groups, the cell viability of S4 (75%-80% FC) treatment was the highest, and the cell apoptosis was the least. Meanwhile, the level of ALT, AST, and MDA in S4 was the lowest, but it achieved the highest level of SOD and GSH. Taken together, different water treatments had great influence on hepatoprotective effect of S. sarmentosum, and the soil moisture of the 75%-80% FC is beneficial to the hepetoprotective activity of S. sarmentosum.

Effects of soil bulk density on growth, physiology and quality of Glechoma longituba / 中国中药杂志

Through the determination of the growth, physiological and active components of Glechoma longituba, the effect of soil bulk density on growth and quality of G. longituba was explored. Through pot experiment, six different bulk density treatments were set for 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 g·cm⁻³ , the growth index, physiological index and the content of active components were determined. The results showed that the growth indexes and biomass of G. longituba firstly increased and then decreased with the increase of soil bulk density. The dry weight of G. longituba achieved the maximum 5.70 g in the treatment of 1.0 g·cm⁻³ . The photosynthetic pigments, soluble sugars and free amino acids firstly increased and then decreased with the increase of soil bulk density. The suitable soil bulk density was beneficial to the accumulation of photosynthetic pigment, soluble protein and free amino acid synthesis. The content of malondialdehyde increased gradually with the increase of soil bulk density. The contents of ethanol-soluble extractives of G. longituba were greater than 25%, meeting its quality criterionin Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2015, achieved the maximum of 40.66% in the treatment of 1.0 g·cm⁻³ . The total flavonoids content of G. longituba increased gradually with the increase of soil bulk density, triterpenic acid and phenolic acids decreased gradually with the increase of soil bulk density. Soil bulk density has a significant effect on the growth and quality of G. longituba, and it is conducive to the growth and its medicinal quality at the soil bulk density of 1.0 g·cm⁻³.

Comparative study on content of heavy metals in Chrysanthemum indicum and soil in different areas / 中国中药杂志

ICP-MS was used to determine the contents of five heavy metals such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), arsenic (As) and copper (Cu) in Chrysanthemum indicum and soil samples. Pearson correlation and path analysis were used to analyze the effects of latitude and longitude and altitude on the content of heavy metal elements in Ch. indicum. To explore the relationship between geographical location of heavy metal content in Ch. indicum and the content of heavy metal elements in soil. The results showed that the Ch. indicum had high enrichment of Cd and had a synergistic effect on the absorption of five heavy metal elements. Elevation directly affected the accumulation of Pb and Cd in Ch. indicum and was a positive effect. The direct positive effect of latitude acts on the accumulation of Hg and Cu in Ch. indicum. The effect of longitude on the Cd content was the negative effect of longitude. The geographical location had different effects on the accumulation of heavy metal elements in Ch. indicum. There was a certain interaction between direct and indirect effects. Ch. indicum had different absorption and enrichment characteristics for different heavy metal species. When controlling the heavy metal content and medicinal material quality of Ch. indicum, we must fully consider the influence of geographical location on the quality of medicinal materials, select suitable geographic regions to carry out acquisitions, and choose a good ecological environment. Regional establishment of Chinese herbal medicine planting bases, or adopting certain agricultural measures to reduce the absorption of heavy metal elements in Ch. indicum herbs, while conducting research on chemical composition, strengthening the research on the effective forms of heavy metals, and paying attention to the safety of medicinal herbs.

Correlation analysis between cold and heat property of traditional Chinese medicines and light conditions of their original plants in habitat / 中国中药杂志

The current study was conducted to explore the relationship between property of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) and the light conditions of their original plant in habitats and advance a "light-cold and heat property" hypothesis under the guidance of theory of TCM. In the present study, we selected 127 common Chinese herbs. Association rules mining method was used to find out the association relationship between the cold-heat properties of different TCM and the habitats of their original plant, while using statistical methods to analyze the correlation between light condition and cold-heat property of TCM based on the description of the habitats in the Flora of China and investigation. The results showed that the habitats associated to TCM with cold property are in the order of grassland>curb>hillside>wasteland>gully>farmland>riverside. The habitats that associated to TCM with heat property are: undergrowth>shrub>gully>jungle. For 68 TCMs with cold property, 81.2% of their original plants are light-demanding, 8.7% are shade-demanding, and 8.7% of them showed no obvious light preference. For 59 TCMs with heat property, 62.7% of their original plants are shade-demanding, 20.3% are shade-demanding, and 17.0% of them showed no obvious light preference. Meanwhile, Chi-square test showed that there was a significant difference between the cold-heat property and light preference (<0.01). In summary, there is a significant correlation between the light preference of TCM original plants and their cold-heat properties. In order to ensure the pharmacological effect of TCM, the relationship between the light conditions and the properties of TCM should be considered in the cultivation of medicinal plants for TCM.

Analysis on character of mineral elements in Changium smyrnioides and rhizosphere soil / 中国中药杂志

The contents of 22 kinds of mineral elements in different parts of Changium smyrnioides and in the rhizosphere soil of 10 different populations were determined by microwave digestion-inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The characteristics of mineral elements in the plants and the soil of main distribution area of Ch. smyrnioides was analyzed and the mechanism of the quality formation of Ch. smyrnioides was explored to provide the basis for the quality evaluation and cultivation regulation of Ch. smyrnioides.The results showed that the quality of soil environment was better in the main distribution area of Ch. smyrnioides, the content of trace elements was higher, the contents of P and K were lower and the contents of mineral elements in the soil of each distribution area was significantly different. The three elements of Se, P and K are significantly accumulated in the root of Ch. smyrnioides. There were significant differences in the total contents of mineral elements in the roots of Ch. smyrnioides in different producing areas. The contents of mineral elements in different parts of Ch. smyrnioides were significantly different. Ch.smyrnioides of the main distribution area of Ch. smyrnioides belonged to the safety level, the distribution of mineral elements in the plants can be used as an indicator of the quality of medicinal herbs.

Research of pollution-free and precision cultivation system of Chinese herbal medicines / 中国中药杂志

The issues of disordering production and non-standard pesticide application are common in the production of Chinese herbal medicines. Aimed to above problems, research groups built the pollution-free and precision cultivation system of medicinal plants. This system mainly included the precise site selection of medicinal plants based on the GIS technology, modern omics-assisted breeding, metagenomics guiding the soil complex improvement, and the precise field management based on rational application of fertilizer and comprehensive control of disease. At present, the production and distribution of medicinal plants were performed in the many poor counties of the whole nation. The breeding platform of resistant varieties was built, and certificates of new and well-bred varieties were received, in the base of genetic backgrounds of the original species of medicinal plants. The disease incidences were declined after application of these resistant varieties. Additionally, chemical pesticide consumption of medicinal plants (such as Panax ginseng, P. notoginseng, Salvia miltiorrhiza, P. quinquefolium, Schisandra chinensis, Platycodon grandiflorum and P. grandiflorus etc.) reduced by 20%-80% based on the genetic testing technologies of plant diseases and insect pests and safety evaluation of pollution-free pesticides. The application of pollution-free and precision cultivation system of Chinese herbal medicines achieve significantly social, economic and ecological benefits.

Study on chemical components distribution in Paeoniae Radix Alba and its processing methods / 中国中药杂志

After studying the discipline of chemical components distribution in peony root, it was found that the content distribution of albiflorin, paeoniflorin, benzoylpaeoniflorin and paeonol was inhomogeneous in different parts of peony root, as same as in different roots belonging to a same plant. Therefore, in order to minimize the effects of different qualities of materials on experimental result, the content changing percentages of four chemical components was chosen as indicators to study processing method of Paeoniae Radix Alba. The processing technique of Paeoniae Radix Alba was put peony roots in the boiled water for at most ten minutes, and cut them into 2-3 mm slices after peeling the root bark, finally dry them in a oven under 55 degrees C, which was similar to the traditional processing method used in Bozhou. And the peeling, boiling and drying methods would affect the contents of albiflorin, paeoniflorin, benzoylpaeoniflorin and paeonol on several levels.

Comparison of major bioactive components from leaves of Chrysanthemum morifolium / 中国中药杂志

Leaves of Chrysanthemum morifolium were potential medicinal resource. The present study aims to estimate the main bioactive components: total flavonoids (TF), galuteolin (GA), quercitrin (QU), chlorogenic acid (CA) and 3 ,5-O-caffeoylquinic acid ( CQ), which were considered to be the main effective components, in leaves of C. morfolium cultivars in China. The TF content was estimated hy UV-VIS spectrophotometry, while GA, QU, CA, and CQ were quantitatively determined by HPLC. The highest TF content (7. 13% w/w) was found in cultivar Wan Cong (Shexian county). Cultivar Da Bo ( Bozhou county) had the highest GA content (33. 45 mg - g-1); Cultivar Hong Xin (Sheyang county) contained the highest QU content (29.25 mg · g(-1)); Cultivar Chang Ban (Sheyang county) had the highest CA content (13.14 mg ·(-1)). The maximum CQ content (7.35 mg · g(-1)) was observed in culti- r Da Yang ( Tongxiang county). Different cultivars of C. morfolium had significant difference in components, but the leaf and capitulum of C. morifolium. were found to possess similar chemical compositions. The high content of bioactive components in several cultivars suggested the potential utilization of C. morifolium leaves.

Quality classification criteria of Paeonia suffruticosa seeds / 中国中药杂志

In order to establish the quality classification criteria of Paeonia suffruticosa seeds, thirty-one batches of P. suffruticosa seeds from different provenances were selected. The seed rooting rate, seed germination rate, seed purity, seed viability, 1,000-seed weight and moisture content were determined and analyzed through SPSS 20.0 software. Seed rooting rate, seed germination rate and seed purity were selected as the main index for classification, while 1,000-seed weight, seed viability and moisture content could be used as important references. The seed quality grading of P. suffruticosa was set as three grades. The seed quality of each grade should meet following requirements: For the first grade seeds, seed rooting rate ≥ 80%, seed germination rate ≥ 80%, seed purity ≥ 90%, seed viability ≥ 80%, 1,000-seed weight ≥ 250 g, moisture content, ≤ 10. For the second grade seeds, seed rooting rate ≥ 50%, seed germination rate ≥ 60%, seed purity ≥ 70%, seed viability ≥ 75%, 1,000-seed weight ≥ 225 g, moisture content ≤ 10. For the third grade seeds, seed rooting rate ≥ 20%, seed germination rate ≥ 45%, seed purity ≥ 60%, seed viability ≥ 45%, 1,000-seed weight ≥ 205 g, moisture content ≤ 10. The quality classification criteria of P. suffruticosa seeds have been initially established.

Determination of chemical components of Paeoniae Radix Alba decoction pieces and its quality evaluation / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>An UPLC method was developed to evaluate the quality of Paeoniae Radix by simultaneously determining four components, paeoniflorin, albiflorin, benzoylpaeoniflorin and paeonol in Paeoniae Radix Alba decoction pieces.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The UPLC chromatographic column was ACQUITY UPLC® HSS T3. The mobile phase was acetonitrile-0.05% phosphoric acid water with gradient elution. The column temperature was 30 °C and detection wavelength was 230 nm with a flow rate of 0.4 mL · min(-1). A linear model was obtained through principal component analysis (PCA), and PCA scores were used to evaluate the quality of Radix Paeoniae Alba decoction pieces comprehensively.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Paeoniflorin, albiflorin, benzoylpaeoniflorin and paeonol could be well separated from other components, and the results of specificity, precision, repeatability, linearity, recovery rate and stability reached the standards, respectively. The content of paeoniflorin in 9 batches of Paeoniae Radix Alba decoction pieces was below the standard given by Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 edition). Using the comprehensive scoring method with principal component analysis, the results showed that the samples from Zhejiang province have better quality than those from Anhui and Shandong provinces.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The method established in this study can effectively determine the content of paeoniflorin, albiflorin, benzoylpaeoniflorin and paeonol, which could be used for quality control of Paeoniae Radix Alba.</p>

Retrospect and prospect of medicinal plants cultivation in China / 中国中药杂志

There is time-honored history and culture of medicinal plant cultivation in China. In the present review, the medicinal plant cultivation history in china was summarized, its current situation and question were analyzed, and the prospects of medicinal plant cultivation research were pointed out, with the purpose of accelerating the growth of medicinal plant cultivation research.