Bupleurum Its Sequences Of Study Drug Source Investigation And Merchandise Identification

Root of Chinese Thorowax is a common traditional Chinese medi-cine, which has been used in China for more than 2000 years. It is thedried root of "Bupleurum chinense DC." and "Bupleurum scorzonerifoliumWilld.", that are recorded in 《Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republicof China》(2000 edition).Root of Chinese Thorowax has a complicatedorigin in the practical application. The overwhelming majority of theplants of Genus Bupleurum (Umbelliferae) is used as the "Thorowax" atthe local distribution areas. And this is the main reason that thequality of the "Thorowax" and its preparation is not very steady. Sothe Root of Chinese Thorowax is urgently in need of systematicalarrangement. Beginning with conduct market investigations of some drug marketsin north China,herbal plantation built according to GAP and the placesof Thorowax production, the author found that the most commerciallyprevalent "Thorowax" species were "north Thorowax" and "southThorowax". But there still existed some phenomenon of the mixture. Thechiefs of " Thorowax" were still on sale, some of which were of poorquality. So the suggestion is that the department in charge should paymore attention to it. While making full use of the herbal resources,plant should be transposed to be the first. Furthermore, 41 samples of "thorowax" commodity drugs were boughtfrom 16 provinces all over the country. Then the identification of thosedrugs was systematically studied through morphology and micro-characteristics. They were been identified that 16 samples of"Bupleurum chinense DC.", 3 samples of " B.scorzonerifolium Willd.",4 samples of " B.bicaule Helm", 2 samples of " B.yinchowense Shan etY.Li"," B.smithii Wolff var.parvifolium Shan et Y.Li" and " B.longiradiatum Turcz." each, 1 sample of " B.angustissimum(Franch.) Kitagawa"," B.longicaule Wall. ex DC.var.giraldii Wolff" and " B.krylovianum Schischk..ex Kryl." each. Besides those there are still7 samples which can not be defined for a variety of reasons. The appliedassortment is in confusion, which makes the quality of "Thorowax" notbe very steady. Meanwhile, the author found that though the traditionalmethods are simple to be done, it can't be accurately differentiatedto the plants of Genus Bupleurum (Umbelliferae). Most medicinal Thorowax plants are very similar on their feature,tissue and so on. The author has attempted to identify the species ofGenus Bupleurum (Umbelliferae) at the molecular level in order to finda more accurate identification method other than the traditionalmethods. The ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) sequences which havethe fastest evolutionary rate of different Thorowax species werestudied by detecting the PCR amplified products, and ITS sequences of11 Thorowax species were successfully detected. In comparison with theITS sequence data of "Bupleurum falcatum L." in Genbank, all of those"Thorowax" commodity drugs can be identified accurately based on thesequence variation. Combined with the genetic distance discussion, theauthor also discussed the application of those twelve Thorowax species.Meanwhile, the difference of the ITS sequences between "Bupleurumchinense DC." and "Bupleurum falcatum L." was quite distinct. After analyzing all the research data obtained, some suggestionsabout the systematical arrangement of Thorowax are made blow: 1. The applied assortment of Thorowax is in confusion. The mostcommercially prevalent "Thorowax" species were "north Thorowax" and"south Thorowax". But there still existed some phenomenon of themixture. The molecular level identification method should be workedup as quickly as possible. 2. Systematics of Genus Bupleurum (Umbelliferae) are verycomplicated, which are not be determined only by one method. The authordon't support that " B.longicaule Wall. ex DC.var.giraldii Wolff" isset as Subgen. Longifolia(Wolff) Yuan alone. 3. " B.smithii Wolff var.parvifolium Shan et Y.Li" should be asubstantive species instead of a variety of "B.smithii Wolff". 4. "Bupleurum falcatum L." is not the same species as "Bupleurumchinense DC.", both of which should not b...