Studies On The Chemical Constituents From Viticis Fructus And The Influence Of Processing

Viticis Fructus is collected from the ripe fruit of Vitex trifolia L.var.simplicifolia Cham.and Vitex trifolia L.,family Verbenacea.It was initially recorded in"Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing"(???????),and listed as the top-grade medicine.This plant is mainly distributed in coastal sandy lands including Fujian,Guangdong,and Zhejiang provinces,etc.,and it can also be found in Japan,India and Burma.In the theory of TCM,it is described as slightly cold in nature,pungent and bitter in taste.It is attributive to the bladder,liver and stomach meridians.Processing is a pharmaceutical skill that discriminates western medicine from Chinese medicine.Proper processing could remove or reduce the toxicity,drastic properties and side effects,promote therapeutic effects,modify the nature and actions for the different therapeutic requirements.As for Viticis Fructus,the raw Viticis Fructus are usually indicated for the wind-heat syndrome due to exogenous attack manifested as headache,red,swollen and painful eyes and blurred vision etc.,while the roasted Viticis Fructus are mainly used for Bi-syndrome of wind-dampness type and eyes due to its advantages at dispelling wind and relieving pain.Hence,the effects of Viticis Fructus had certain changes after being processed,which must be related to the changes of chemical compounds in Viticis Fructus,and the exploration of its difference would be beneficial for the clarify of mechanisms.Thus,this paper starts from the perspective of chemical composition,the main chemical constituents of Viticis Fructus were isolated and identified.Then,the impact of processing on the chemical constituents and dissolution rates were further examined by using high performance liquid chromatography and GC-MS.Furthermore,the mainly changed compounds between raw and processed samples were analyzed with the help of statistical analysis to reveal the mechanism of processing.This paper is mainly divided into three parts.First,a comprehensive review about Viticis Fructus was completed,including its resource,phytochemistry and pharmacology,and processing research.In the aspect of phytochemistry,an overall review of its compounds(terpenoid,anthraquinones,flavonoids,steroids,small molecules phenolic acids and alkanes)was summarized.Pharmacological effects were systematically summarized,including anti-tumor,antioxidant,anti-inflammatory,and anti-PMS.Current status of processing research was also reviewed,including historic evolution,processing method and research about its mechanisms.Second,7 compounds have been isolated from this plant based on multiple modern chromatographic column such as silica gel,polyamide,LH-20 and ODS methods,etc.All of them were elucidated by spectrum analysis(1H-NMR,13C-NMR),and their structures were confirmed as follows:vitexicarpin(1),vitexilactone(2),p-hydroxybenzoic acid(3),isoorientin(4),3',5-dihydroxy-6,7,4'-trimethoxy flavanone(5),stigmast-4-ene-3,6-dione(6)and vanillic acid(7).Last,based on the research of chemical constituents,two flavonoids were selected as the markers to explore the changes of contents and dissolution rates of them in the course of processing,the results showed that the contents of isoorientin and vitexicarpin were reduced by 5.34%and 14.71%,however,the dissolution rates of them were increased by 20.6%and 2.2%.The volatile components in the raw and processed Viticis Fructus were analyzed using gas chromatograph(GC)in combination with masss pectrometry(MS),in order to study the effect of processing on the volatile compounds of Viticis Fructus.It was demonstrated that there were no significant differences on the chemical composition,and 60 compounds among them were identified.The Principal Component Analysis(PCA)analysis showed that there were certain difference between the raw and processed samples of Viticis Fructus,and 12 compounds that have obvious changes were found between them with the help of partial least squares discriminant analysis(PLS-DA)analyses,and these compounds that have significant changes would provide reference for the quality control of Viticis Fructus.