| Objective: The separation and purification of TCM was carried out by membrane separation technology,and the traditional alcohol-sedimentation process was used as a control.The effect of membrane separation on the purification of TCM was comprehensively evaluated in terms of physicochemical properties,active ingredients and biological activities to assess the suitability of membrane separation as an alternative to the alcohol-sedimentation process for TCM.Methods: The 5 kinds of TCM compound preparations,including Dan hong injection,Kang fu yan capsule,Yi gong granules,Kang gan oral liquid,and Qi yao Xiao ke capsule,were used as the research objects.The TCM extracts were prepared according to the prescriptions of 5 kinds of TCM compound preparations.Membrane microfiltration(MF),ultrafiltration(UF)and alcohol precipitation process were used to separate and purify the TCM extracts.The several researches were carried out as followed:1.Taking the alcohol precipitation refining solution as a control,the effects of membrane separation technology on the properties of TCM extracts,including the removal of high molecular substances,retention rate of effective components,physical and chemical properties(e.g.turbidity,viscosity,pH,electrical conductivity,etc.),and fingerprint chromatogram,were studied.2.The dry powders of TCM extracts were prepared by spray-drying technology.The properties of the powders including water activity and hygroscopicity were studied.3.Taking the extracts of Dan hong injection as an example,the effects of operation parameters on the membrane separation process of TCM extracts were studied using membrane flux,membrane fouling,removal rate of macromolecules and total solids as indicators.4.Taking the extracts of Dan hong injection as an example,the model of chicken embryo villous allantoic membrane(CAM)was used to study the effect of membrane separation technology on promoting angiogenesis of Dan hong water extract.5.Taking the extracts of Dan hong injection as an example,the endothelial dysfunction model of human umbilical vein endothelial cell(HUVEC)induced by the high concentration glucose and the oxidative stress injury model of HUVEC induced by lipopolysaccharide(LPS)were built to study the effect of membrane separation technology on the protective effect of Dan hong water extract on endothelial cell injury.Results: 1.After the purification of the TCM extracts by the alcohol precipitation and membrane technology,the solid content,turbidity,viscosity,macromolecule contents are reduced in varying degrees,and the purpose of refining and purification is achieved.However,the active ingredients also were lost in different degrees.The alcohol precipitation method is superior to the membrane technology in terms of impurity removal;and the membrane technology is superior to the alcohol precipitation method in terms of effective component retention.According to the similarity evaluation system of TCM fingerprints,the similarity between the membrane separation refined solution and the original solution is greater than 90%,indicating that the membrane separation technology can good retain the overall chemical compositions of the TCM extracts.2.Membrane separation technology can reduce the water activity and improve the hygroscopicity of TCM powder,which make more the stability of TCM powder.After refined by alcohol precipitation,the water activity hygroscopicity of TCM powder were enhanced,which reduces the stability of TCM powder.3.For the operating parameters of the membrane process,increasing the membrane pressure can increase the membrane flux and improve the removal rate of impurities,but also increase the membrane fouling.Increasing the liquid flow rate can increase the membrane flux,improve the removal of impurities and also reduce membrane fouling.In the actual operation,it is necessary to select appropriate operating parameters according to the material properties and equipment performance.While ensuring the membrane flux meets the requirements,the pollution and energy consumption of membrane system should be controlled to an affordable level,make the membrane system in an efficient state.4.The angiogenesis-promoting effect of Dan hong extracts was reduced after alcohol precipitation treatment,while the effect was enhanced after the treatment by membrane techonology.5.After refined treatment with alcohol precipitation and membrane separation technology,the effects of Dan hong extract on the protection of endothelial cell function,reduction of cellular inflammatory response and oxidative damage have been improved.The purification effect of membrane separation technology is generally better than that of alcohol precipitation.At the same time,the results also showed that the pharmacological effect was enhanced due to the reduction of the impurity content,indicating the necessity of purification treatment.Conclusion: In this study,it is known that the purification effect of membrane separation technology is weaker than the traditional alcohol precipitation in the removal of impurities in TCM extracts.Compared with alcohol precipitation,membrane separation technology can more effectively retain the effective ingredients of TCM extracts and improve its biological activity.At the same time,membrane separation technology has the characteristics of green,energy saving,environmental protection,and high efficiency.So it is practically suitable to apply membrane separation technology instead of alcohol precipitation in the separation and purification of TCM extracts. |
PDF Full Text Request