China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica, the 1st in the field of TCM, is supervised by China Association for Science and Technology and sponsored by Institute of Chinese Pharmaceutical Association. The journal is China's earliest comprehensive core journal of traditional Chinese medicine, and always maintains the circulation top in the professional areas. The journal publishes the latest research and progress of traditional Chinese medicine and takes a leading position in numbers of articles published, downloads and citations among all journals in this discipline.
Its scope covers new achievements, technologies, methods, experiences and concepts resulting from the research on Chinese materia medica pursuant to Chinese medical and pharmaceutical theories, traditional experiences, and modern science and technology, including medicinal resources and identification, cultivation, processing, preparation, chemistry, pharmacology, theory of Chinese pharmacy and clinical practice, bencaological study.
The journal is included in CA, JST and CSCD.
Honorary Editor-in-Chief Xiao Peigen Editor-in-Chief Wang Yongyan
Associate Editors Zhang Boli, Hu Zhibi, Yao Xinsheng, Li Lianda, Li Dapeng, Yang Baofeng, Zhou Chaofan, Huang Luqi, Chen Shilin, Li He.
Executive Editorial Board Cai Shaoqing, Chen Shilin
There are many chemical components in the volatile oil of Cortex Dictamni. The complex network relationship of “component–target–disease” can be revealed by using the network pharmacological method, and the mechanism of the efficacy of Cortex Dictamni can be revealed. In this study, we used Swiss Target Prediction database to predict the target of action, STRING database to build the protein interaction network, and Cytoscape software to build the “component–target–disease” network. The results show that the anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects of Cortex Dictamni are closely related to such components as thymol methyl ether, elemenol, and anethole, and the related targets of each component are cross-linked to play a multi-target pharmacodynamic role. This study not only lays a foundation for the study of the effective substance basis and quality control evaluation of the Cortex Dictamni, but also provides a scientific basis for further revealing its mechanism.
In order to reveal the main nutrients and functional ingredients in the shoots of
Polygonatum cyrtonema, we determined the content of polysaccharides, proteins, amino acids, and total phenols. The tested samples were collected from Manijiaonong, Hengtang Village, Tianmushan Town, Lin’an District, Zhejiang Province, including three provenances (Pan’an (HJ96) and Longquan (HJ112) in Zhejiang Province and Qingyang (HJ123) in Anhui Province). The results showed that the polysaccharide content of the shoots varied from 2.34% to 12.73%, roughly one-third of that in rhizomes. The protein content varied from 107.75 to 192.49 mg·g
−1, nearly 5.50 times that in rhizomes. Moreover, the average of total amino acid content was 193.13–248.74 mg·g
−1, approximately 4.16 times that in rhizomes. And the essential amino acids (EAAs) accounted for 35.57%–39.44% of the total amino acids (TAAs), which was close to the standard of the ideal protein proposed by FAO/WHO (the EAAs accounted for 40% of the TAAs). In addition, the taste amino acids (TaAAs) changed from 160.12 to 208.29 mg·g
−1, revealing the material basis for the “delicious taste of shoots” in Chinese medicinal classics of the past dynasties. Additionally, the total phenol content varied from 51.21 to 58.76 mg·g
−1, about 2.96 times that in rhizome. The DPPH free radical scavenging capacity in the tested shoots was over 95%, which was obviously superior to that in rhizomes. Therefore, the shoots of
P.
cyrtonema are a very high-quality vegetable and functional food with good development potential. Furthermore, the main nutrients and functional substances in
P.
cyrtonema shoots are closely related to the provenances and harvesting seasons. It is important to improve the quality and yield of the shoots by strengthening the variety breeding and improving the cultivation techniques.
To study the non-flavonoids constituents in water extract of
Spatholobus suberectus Dunn. Some purification and analysis techniques like silica gel, D101-macroporous adsorptive resins, and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatographies as well as reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography were used to isolate and analyze the phenolic acid esters and other type compounds from
S. suberectus integrally. The structures of these compounds were identified by spectroscopic techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance and high resolution mass spectrometries. Twenty-seven compounds, including phenolic acid, coumarin, lignan, terpene, alkaloid, and steroid compounds, were isolated from ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and
n-butanol fractions in water extract of
S. suberectus, and they were identified as
β-sitosterol (
1), feruli acid methyl ester (
2), syringaresinol (
3), (+)-medioresinol (
4), (+)-epipinoresinol (
5),
p-acetylphenol (
6), bolusanthin Ⅳ (
7), evofolin B (
8), salicylic acid (
9),
trans-
p-hydroxy-cinnamic acid (
10), abscisic acid (
11),
m-hydroxyphenol (
12),
C-veratroylglycol (
13),
p-hydroquinone (
14), 8,9-dihydroxymegastigma-4,6-dien-3-one (
15),
p-hydroxybenzoic acid (
16), 6,9-dihydroxymegastigma-4,7-dien-3-one (
17), protocatechuic acid (
18), protocatechuic acid methyl ester (
19), 5,7-dihydroxycoumarin (
20), isolariciresinol (
21), nicotinic acid (
22), daucosterol (
23), (+)-pinoresinol (
24), stigmasterol (
25), allantoin (
26) and koaburaside (
27), respectively. Furthermore, compounds
2–
15,
19–
22,
24 and
26 were isolated from genus
Spatholobus for the first time.
Some Chinese herbal medicine needs to be processed before it can be used as medicine, especially toxic Chinese medicine. Highly toxic Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii [Caowu (草乌) in Chinese] is widely used in Chinese medicine and Mongolian medicine. In Chinese medicine, Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii is usually processed by boiling with water until no white part inside and being tasted without tongue-numbing. In Mongolian medicine, it is usually soaked in Fructus Chebulae [Hezi (诃子) in Chinese] decoction for several days. Both methods could reduce toxicity according to reports. The biggest difference between Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii, Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by water boiling, and Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by Fructus Chebulae is that Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by water boiling needs to be heated for 4–6 h, while Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by Fructus Chebulae needs Fructus Chebulae as processing adjuvants. To explore the toxicity reduction mechanism of Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by water boiling and Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by Fructus Chebulae, we studied the contents of various compounds in Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by two methods by UPLC-Orbitrap-MS. The results indicated that Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by water boiling had 14 new ingredients, such as 14-
O-anisoylneoline and dehydro-mesaconitine, while
N-demethyl-mesaconitine and aconitine disappeared. At the same time, it could significantly decrease the content of diester diterpenoid alkaloids and increase the contents of monoester diterpenoid alkaloids and amine-diterpenoid alkaloids. Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by Fructus Chebulae had nine new ingredients from Fructus Chebulae, like gallic acid, chebulic acid and shikimic acid. Neither the kinds nor the contents of compositions from Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii in Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by Fructus Chebulae changed little. This suggested that the processing mechanism of Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by water boiling reduced the highly toxic components (diester diterpenoid alkaloids) and increased the content of lowly toxic components (monoester diterpenoid alkaloids and amine-diterpenoid alkaloids). The attenuated principle of Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by Fructus Chebulae may be related to the components of Fructus Chebulae. In this experiment, the conclusion shows that the chemical constituents of Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by water boiling and Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii processed by Fructus Chebulae are essentially different, and the two methods have different toxicity reduction principles.
Liuwei Dihuang Pill is a typical Chinese medicine with “the same product made by many manufacturers”. The quality and price of products made in various factories were different obviously. In this study, the quality differences of Liuwei Dihuang Pills were evaluated over multi-dimensions and throughout the whole production cycle involving raw materials, production process, quality control and post-marketing re-studies based on the “Evaluation criteria over quality as core index of high grade Chinese patent medicine” established earlier by our research group. The research results showed that the product quality of various manufacturers was significantly different, and the product quality was positively correlated with the market shares of enterprises, indicating that the enterprises with more market shares paid more attention to product quality; and the sales determined the concern degree of enterprises on products, which was in line with general cognition. During the single-item evaluation of Liuwei Dihuang Pills, the score of raw material selection was relatively low, and the enterprises paid less attention to the initial raw materials. The whole production process was better, and the national compulsory implementation of “Production Quality Management Standard” (GMP) had a positive effect in improving the product quality. Quality control could basically guarantee product quality. Intelligent manufacturing promoted by the government was beneficial to ensure product uniformity. The score rate of “quality evaluation” item was basically qualified, which indicated that the quality control level of Liuwei Dihuang Pills was acceptable as a whole, but there was still room for improvement. “Re-evaluation and Brand Construction” had the lowest scores, reflecting that enterprises did not pay enough attention to in-depth study and re-evaluation of “the same product made by many manufacturers”. The evaluation results were in line with expectations, provided a reference example for the evaluation of high-quality Chinese patent medicine, a basis for the high-quality and good price of Chinese patent medicine, scientific data for improving medical insurance bidding, and thus facilitated promoting the healthy development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry.
