Studies On Chemistry Composition、standard Of Quality And Anti-senescence Activities Of Rehmannia Chingii Li.

Objective: To Compare the pharmacognostical profile and anti-senescence activity of Rehmannia chingii and Rehmannia glutinosa.Methods: Based on five traditional identification methods of pharmacognosy(identification of original plant, macroscopical identification, microscopical identification, physical and chemical identification, and identification by DNA molecular marker), a systematic comparative study on the pharmacognostical profiles were performed between R. chingii and R. glutinosa.Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry(HPLC/MS) was employed to compare the chemical compositions between R. chingii and R. glutinosa. Combined with literature data, we established the chemical databases of Rehmannia. In addition, we also performed chemical isolation on R. chingii and prepared the total iridoids of R. chingii.Content, distribution and accumulation of catalpol and verbascoside in R. chingii were determined by HPLC.Water maze(morris) and open-field test(OFT) behavioral experiments were used to investigate the anti-aging activity of the ethanol extracts of R. chingii and R. glutinosa and the total iridoids of R. chingii..Results: From macroscopical to microscopical identification, we determined the similarities and differences between R. chingii and R. glutinosa. DNA molecular identification further revealed the presence of different DNA fragment and confirmed the difference of their genetic basis.Using HPLC combined with the extablished chemical database of Rehmannia, we confirmed R. chingii possessed similar chemical compositions as that of R. glutinosa, mainly containing catalpol and verbascoside. The content of the total iridoids of R. chingii.was determined as 50.6%Using HPLC, we revealed that the contents of catalpol and verbascoside, respectively, varied in the whole plant and root of R. chingii. Catalpol is mainly distributed in the root and its content reached the peak in April with content of 3.422%, whereas verbascoside is mainly distributed in the whole plant and reached the peak at the stage of flowering and fruiting period in May with content of 0.473%.The ethanol extracts of R. chingii and R. glutinosa, and the total iridoids of R. chingii exhibited significant anti-aging activity, significantly increasing the level of SOD and decreasing the levels of MDA, NO, i NOS and A-ch E in serum, and notably upregulating the m RNA expression of SOD, and downregulating that of i NOS, A-ch H in hippocampal tissue. And the total iridoids of R. chingii showed higher activity than the two ethanol extractsConclusion:Based on five pharmacognostical identification methods and the extablished chemical databases, we confirmed that R. chingii possessed substantial similarity as R. glutinosa, which provided scientific basis for exploring alternative resource from the same genus: R. chingii may be usued as an alternative resource for R. Glutinosa.Our results indicated that both of the ethanol extracts of R. chingii and R. glutinosa exhibited significant anti-aging activity, and the total iridoids of R. chingii showed better activity. Our studies provide scientific basis for further exploit and utilization of the medicinal resource of R. Chingii.