Study On Ecological Environment Herbal Quality And The Optimum Harvesting Time Of The Atractylodes Lancea (Thunb.) DC

Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. is originated from the driedrhizome of Atractylodes of Compositae, which is early discoveredrecords in the "Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic"."ChinesePharmacopoeia" regards Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC andAtractylodes chinensis (DC.) Koidz as Chinese medicineAtractylodis rhizoma’s base sources. Rhizoma Areactylodis Lanceaeis commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. It has the effectof eliminating dampness, tonifying spleen, expelling wind and cold,and so on. Rhizoma Areactylodis Lanceae has good efficacy to thediseases caused by damp evil, such as wet weight icterohepatitis,wind-cold type of common cold. It is named after its produced inMaoshan. In recent years, because of over-excavation, RhizomaAreactylodis Lanceae was becomed scarce species. Atractylodin andβ-eudesmol were the main active ingredient in Rhizoma AreactylodisLanceae. In this study, the chemical analysis methods were used toevaluate geo-authentic habitats of Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC,quantitative analysis of atractylodin and β-eudesmol wasdetermined by HPLC. Then, combined with ecological factors,Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. quality was comprehensively evaluated for medicinal plant resources. That provided evaluationto quality of Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. resources. And acomparative study of the content of its main chemical componentsof different growth stages determine the optimum harvest time.First, the ecological environment investigation of RhizomaAreactylodis Lanceae samples from different originsCombined accessing articles and field surveys, we visitedAtractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. medicinal plants resources inHubei Province, Anhui Province, Henan Province, Jiangsu Provinceas the geo-authentic habitats and the main producing areas ofecological environment. At the same time, climate data, ecologicaldata, soil samples, and lancea herbs samples were also collected.The results showed that Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. wassuitable to grow in a conditions where temperature was11~17℃, theaverage annual rainfall was900~1500mm, annual average sunshinehours was1500~2200h. It liked to grow in a cool and wet place,dry hills and hillsides, often associates with herbs and smallshrubs. It easily growed in anyplace, but better adapting loose andfecund, catchment good soil grows. That laid a foundation for lanceaquality of medicinal plants resources to guide large-scalecultivation.Second, quality comparison of Rhizoma Areactylodis Lanceaemedicinal materials from different origins1. Qualitative analysisIn order to research the differences of chemical composition ofdifferent origin Rhizoma Areactylodis Lanceae samples,13samplesfrom different origins were collected. The most suitable developingsolvent and chromogenic reagent of atractylodin and β-eudesmol were respectively selected by thin layer chromatography (TLC).Developer: atractylodin: petroleum ether (60~90°C)-acetone(9:2), β-eudesmol: n-hexane-ethyl acetate-toluene (14:3:3);chromogenic reagent:10%sulfuric acid in ethanol solution and3%ferric chloride ethanol solution sulfate. The results showed that13simples from different regions on the chemical composition isbasic consistent.2. Quantitative analysisBased on the results of thin layer chromatography analysis,13samples of different areas used as Rhizoma Areactylodis Lanceaewere carry out content determination on atractylodin and β-eudesmol by HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography).Optimum chromatograms for identification of atractylodin and β-eudesmol were etablished. Atractylodin: the mobile phase wasmethanol and water (79:21), flow rate was1mL min-1, detectionwavelength was at340nm, column temperature was25°C, theinjection volume was10μ l. β-eudesmol: mobile phase:acetonitrile-water (58:42), flow rate mobile phase:1mL min-1,detecting wavelength:203nm, column temperature:30℃, injectionvolume:10μl. The results showed that both the highest contentof atractylodin and β-eudesmol was the Rhizoma Areactylod Lanceaefrom Hengche Town,Qichun County,Hubei Province as1.22%and6.74%.The lowest content of atractylodin was the Rhizoma AreactylodLanceae from Tongbo County,Henan Province as0.11%,the lowestcontent of β-eudesmol was the Rhizoma Areactylod Lanceae fromTianwang Town, Jurong County,Jiangsu Province as0.56%.Third, studies on the fingerprint of Rhizoma Areactylodis LanceaeIn this study, HPLC-VWD chromatography was used to set up the fingerprints of Rhizoma Areactylodis Lanceae. The conditions onmobile phase elution gradient was determined. A phase was water,B phase was acetonitrile,the elution gradient was0-5min, A:70-65,B:30-35;5~7min, A:65~45, B:35~55;7~30min, A:45~30, B:55~70;30~45min, A:30~25, B:70~75.8common peaks were demarcated, andatractylodis element peak was identified from the fingerprint ofRhizoma Areactylodis Lanceae. This condition premisely ensureresolution, and maintain the appropriate number of peaks, goodfront shape, relatively stable peaks. HPLC fingerprint wasdeveloped. This method was appling to compare the differencesbetween the Rhizoma Areactylodis Lanceae from different origins.The results also showed the similarity between these simples. Thatprovided a reliable basis to control the quality of RhizomaAreactylodis Lanceae.Forth, research on optimum picking time of Rhizoma AreactylodisLanceaeThis study determined the content of atractylodin and β-eudesmol in Rhizoma Areactylodis Lanceae simples, which werecollected from Hubei Yingshan in different harvested month. Theoptimum picking time was determined, in which the main activeingredient content was highest. In conclusion, the optimum pickingtime is in November.