Application of Photoshop in Measurement of Microsphere Diameter and Microstructure Drawing of Medicinal Materials / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

<b>Objective:To explore the feasibility of Photoshop image processing software in the micro-spherical diameter measurement and identification of medicinal materials, in order to provide a new method for the measurement and mapping of traditional Chinese medicine. <b>Method:Photoshop (CS3 version and above) software was used to measure the diameter of 200 Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma albumin microspheres in the same batch, digital microscopy and Photoshop image processing software was used to draw schematic diagrams of microstructures of Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma medicinal powders and its four common pseudo-products and powders, namely Bletillae Radix, Alpiniae Officinarum Rhizoma, Curcumae Longae Rhizoma and <italic>Manihot esculenta,</italic> and make the identification table for classification and identification. <b>Result:The average diameter of the microspheres was (30.62±4.21)μm, and the diameter was mainly distributed in 20-40 μm. The average diameter of the microspheres was verified by laser particle size analyzer (30.18±4.67)μm. The differences between the two methods were not statistically significant. There were many starch granules in Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma powder, with no calcium oxalate needle, oil cell, brown pigment and stone cell. Microscopic identification could be made for Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma powder and 4 common counterfeits. <b>Conclusion:Photoshop image processing software measures the diameter of the microspheres with a high speed, high accuracy, simplicity, and low requirements for measuring instruments. It provides a new way to quickly measure the diameter of microspheres. Photoshop image processing software draws a schematic diagram of the microstructure, which is convenient and faster. The original morphology of the ground-reactive microstructure provides a new method for the microstructural drawing.