[In situ investigation to three dimensional structures of Chinese medicines seeds].

This paper is aimed to microscopic identification of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) using an in situ imaging method. In this study, two kinds of Zingiberaceae seeds, Amomi Rotundus Fructus and Alpiniae Katsumadai Semen, were investigated by synchrotron radiation in-line X-ray phase-contrast computed tomography (IXPCT) imaging method. The results showed that the microstructures of these Zingiberaceae seeds could be clearly obtained from the virtual slices information in different observing angles. It proves that IXPCT is an effective imaging method, which can provide the imaging information for the microscopic identification of the intact TCMs in situ and non-destructively.

Application of x-ray phase contrast imaging to microscopic identification of Chinese medicines.

In the last decade, x-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) has received considerable attention as a novel imaging technique, which has proved to be suitable for weakly absorbing materials such as biomedical samples and polymers. In this paper, the microstructures of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), which are used as judging criteria in the identification of TCMs, were investigated by XPCI based on a nano-focus x-ray tube. The results demonstrated that XPCI is a promising new method for the identification of TCMs, with advantages such as nondestructivity, no special sample preparation and suitability for thick samples.