The Research On The Material Basis Of "Cold" And "Hot" Natures Of Fruits

One of the most important fundamental theories of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is "four natures"including "cold", "cool", "warm"and "hot", which is a summary of clinical experiences. What is the material basis of "four nature"is the critical point of TCM study, especially the quantitative criteria. The nature of fruits or foods is an overall effect of their chemical components on organisms. Combination of the biochemistry, mathematical statistics and the TCM theory the fruits nature was quantitatively studied and the biochemical mechanism was discussed. The paper will provide a new potential method for the research on "four natures"of TCM. 25 fruits were selected and divided according to their respective natures, and the data of eight components of the fruits were analyzed by the Step Multivariate Discriminate Method to establish the mathematic model for discriminating the fruits'nature. Results indicated that the equation of discriminate for the "warm or hot"group is Y=-10.19173X8-1.42593X5+0.14975X4 and its discriminate interval is (-0.6423171,0.5275019). Namely, the contents of X8 (copper), X5 (iron) and X4 (magnesium) of the fruits were put into the above equation. If the value was within its discriminate interval, it meant that the fruit belonged to the "warm or hot"group; if not, it meant that the fruit belonged to the "cool or cold"group. The correct rate of back substitution of discriminating is 100%. The contents of copper, iron and magnesium of other fruits such as Chinese goosebery and guava were put into the mathematic model, and the results indicated that the mathematic model is suitable for discriminate the nature of fruits. Animal test was established to validate the mathematic model. 120 rats were randomly divided into 5 groups, then normal fed and administered respective solutions every day. The first group was modeled as negative control group administered with normal saline. The second group and the third group were modeled as positive control groups administered with "hot"and "cold"Chinese traditional medicine solutions, respectively. The fourth group and the fifth group were modeled as "hot"and "cold"test groups administered with "warm or hot"and "cold or cool"mineral solutions, which were made according to the mathematic model, respectively. During 21 days modeling, anus temperature and consumption of drinking water of rats were determined, and the condition, epidermal hair, urine and excrement of rats were observed. After 21 days, the rats were killed. The tongue image of rats were observed by transmission electron microscopy, and the contents of noradrenaline of blood plasma and thrombocytin of blood serum of rats were determined by fluorescence method. The level of thyrotrophic hormone, the content of copper, iron and magnesium of blood serum of rats were determined by radioimmunoassay and spectrophotometric method, respectively. The contents of copper, iron and magnesium of Chinese medicines was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The results from the anmial test validated the mathematic model. The lipopolysaccharide of excrement as an index to diagnose the human nature was also studied. The tentative biochemical mechanism of the copper, iron, and magnesium contributing to the different natures was discussed.