| Objective: Based on the research of turmeric production regional division, commercial specification and biological activities, we studied turmeric produced in Sichuan province known as genuine medicinal materials in ancient and modern times by getting more into the genuineness of turmeric including production area,chemical components,properties and biological activities, and providing basis for the quality evaluation of turmeric.Methods:The literature study and market survey of turmeric were carried out on the history of clinical application, region of application, geo-authentic place of origin, traditional identification method, commercial rate of traditional specification, chemical components and biological activities. We assesed the genuineness of turmeric through studying production regional division,commercial specification and biological activities in different producing areaResults:(1) We investigated the cultivated area, environment of production area, output and preparation of turmeric in Sichuan province, Yunnan province and Shanxi province through market survey and on-the-spot visit, surveyed the five markets of Chinese herbs and analyzed the market of turmeric.The results were as follows:①All turmerics in market were planted, there was no wild type. ②There were two types of turmerics in the market, including turmeric from Sichuan and turmeric from Yunnan. ③The price of turmeric was determined firstly by the place of origin, secondly by quantity of mother turmeric, finally by the size of turmeric.④Turmeric of Sichuan province was dominant in the market, and accounted for 60% of the market. The survey of production area indicated that there were mainly two production regions for turmeric, including Yunnan and Sichuan province.(2)The correlation analysis data of ecological factor and chemical composition showed there was positive correlation between curcumin contents and the soil types and the wet season average temperature and that was benificial for the accumulation of curcumin. The study of optimal region of cultivation of turmeric indicated that the optimal growth regions of turmeric were Sichuan and Yunnan, but turmeric may be sporadically cultivated in Guangxi and Guangdong. Statistical results for the above provinces indicated that the optimal growing region area of turmeric reached 50.2km2 in Sichuan province,which located in the southwest of Sichuan, particularly in Leshan. In Yunnan province, it reached 104.1km2 and located at the junction of southeast of Yunnan and Guizhou.Using curcumin and volatile oil as the quality indices to analyze the best quality of turmeric, the study showed that turmeric of the southwest of Sichuan contained the highest level of curcumin, and the turmeric of the southwest of Sichuan and the northern Sichuan adjacent to Shanxi province possessed the maximal level of volatile oil. With optimal production of turmeric,the study indicated that according to assessment with curcumin, the optimal production regions for turmeric are the southwest and northeast of Sichuan province, the northwest of Guizhou and southern Yunnan. According to assessment with volatile oil, the optimal production regions for turmeric are the southwest and northeast of Sichuan province, Yunnan province, Guizhou province, Hunan province, Hubei province and Chongqing. According to assessment with curcumin and volatile oil, the optimal production region for turmeric is the southwest of Sichuan province, particularly Leshan.(3) According to the commercial rate of turmeric in the market and identification of turmeric with conventional experience, various types of turmerics were classified based on 14 external attributes, and assessed with these features. We examined the contents of curcumin, volatile oil and extracts of turmeric. The study revealed that 35 samples of 64 commercial types of turmeric contained abundant volatile oil, curcumin and extracts, which all met the standards required by Chinese pharmacopoeia, with the rate of reaching standard at 54.7%. The correlation analysis of 6 chemical components of 64 types of turmerics indicated that curcumin was highly associated with volatile oil and extracts, but the coefficient of correlation between extracts and other ingredients were lowest. Therefore, curcumin and volatile oil were used as indices for modern identification of turmeric. Using statistic software, cluster analysis was conducted on the curcumin and volatile oil. The 64 types of turmerics were classified as superior class and inferior class, according to the content of curcumin and volatile oil.36 types of turmerics were classified as superior rate, and 28 types of turmerics were classified as inferior rate. The study showed that the rate of concordance for cluster analysis result and the result of identification with modern indices was 89.1%, suggesting the classification by geo-authentic turmeric and non-geo-authentic type and the classification by the contents of volatile oil and curcumin is highly associated. Analysis of the relationship between the external features and the contents of volatile oil and curcumin revealed that the origin, cross-section color, facial shrinkage, drying method and odour were highly associated with volatile oil and curcumin. On the basis of classification analysis and practical factors, the place of origin and the cross-section color were applied for classification of turmeric commercial specification. According to the appearance and the size, the collected turmerics were classified as mother turmeric, big daughter turmeric and small daughter turmeric. The contents of curcumin, volatile oil and extracts were examined, followed by quality assessment of these three classes of turmerics, the results showed that the contents of these chemical ingredients were highest in daughter turmeric, and there was no significant difference in the contents between big daughter turmeric and small daughter turmeric. Therefore, turmerics were classified as two classes, such as mother turmeric and daughter turmeric.(4) The results of biological activity assay of turmeric from different areas showed turmeric samples of different areas had strong binding activity to β-amyloid and scavenging effects to super oxygen anion free radical, hydroxyl free radicals and DPPH. At the same time, the results showed the binding activity to β-amyloid and effects on super oxygen anion free radical, hydroxyl radical and DPPH of turmeric produced in Sichuan were superior to that of other non-genuine areas. The correlation analysis results between the contents of 5 chemical compositions in 63 turmeric samples and different biological activitis in turmeric samples indicated that curcumin and volatile oil were implicated in the activity of binding to β-amyloid. The BDMC, DMC and TCUR were significantly associated with free radical scavenging capacity of low dose of turmeric. Volatile oil was strongly related to the ability of diminishing hydroxy radical for low dose of turmeric. The BDMC, DMC and TCUR were significantly associated with the abilities of diminishing hydroxy radical for various turmerics. Volatile oil was significantly associated with decreasing DPPH of high dose of turmeric, and CUR was significantly associated with decreasing DPPH of high dose of turmeric.Conclusion:The result of research on turmeric production regional division shows curcumin content is highest in turmeric of southwest Sichuan, and volatile oil content is highest in turmeric of the southwest Sichuan and northern Sichuan adjacent to Shanxi province. Taking into consideration both curcumin and volatile oil, the optimal production region for turmeric is in southwest Sichuan province, particularly in Leshan. This is consistent with the results of literature research and producing area investigation that the geo-authentic habitats of turmeric is in Muchuan and Qianwei of southwest Sichuan. The study of turmeric specification suggests there is a good relationship between genuine medicinal materials and non-genuine medicinal materials distinguished by producing area and quality grade of medicinal materials distinguished by the contens of curcumin and volatile oil, indicates that the traditional record of genuine medicinal materials was scientific,and turmeric can be divided into genuine medicinal materials and non-genuine medicinal materials based on producing area. By studying turmeric production regional division and commercial specification,the consistency of taking turmeric produced in Sichuan as genuine medicinal materials in traditional chinese medicine is justified by assesment producing area and chemical components. In order to further evaluate the scientific implications of genuineness of turmeric and based on the study mentioned above, we determined the biological activity of turmeric produced in different areas and expected to validate the results concluded from turmeric production regional division and commercial specification study. The results showed the binding activity to P-amyloid and anti-oxidation activity of turmeric produced in Sichuan was superior to that of other non-genuine areas, that further indicated biological acticity evaluation could be an indicator to judge the genuineness and non- genuineness of medicinal materials, and demonstrated combination evaluation of producing area,biological activity and chemical components was scientific for taking turmeric produced in Sichuan as traditional genuine medicinal materials.In the study of turmeric specification,we determined contents of index components of various samples of turmeric specified in Chinese Pharmacopeia, including curcumin, Demethoxycurcumin, Bisdemethoxycurcumin, volatile oil and Extract. By correlation analysis of the contents of 6 chemical compositions in 64 turmeric samples,we chose curcumin and volatile oil as the comtemporary detective markers based on the basic statistical parameters of various indicators and results of correlation analysis. In the comparative study of biological activity of turmeric from different areas, we analysed rhe correlation between the contents of 5 chemical compositions in turmeric from different areas and the biological activity of turmeric samples and found curcumin and volatile oil were related to the biological activity of turmeric samples, In conclusion, curcumin and volatile oil can be chose as the evaluation indicators,when we take chemical component as evaluation indicator of turmeric genuineness.The results of biological activity assay of turmeric from different areas showed turmeric samples of different areas had strong binding activity to β-amyloid and scavenging effects to super oxygen anion free radical, hydroxyl free radicals and DPPH. At the same time, the results showed the binding activity to β-amyloid and anti-oxidation activity of turmeric produced in Sichuan was superior to that of other non-genuine areas. The results mentioned above indicated turmeric had strong effects on the two biological activity indicators, the method was simple, and easy to repeat, the results was clear and less disturbed, they can be considered as effective indicator to evaluate the genuineness of turmeric. The two biological activity indicators provided a base for establishing biological activity determination method and diversified quality evaluation systemof turmeric and was conducive to the scientific evaluation of the quality of medicinal materials. |
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