Study On The Variation Mechanisim Of Chemical Constituents From Artemisiae Argyi Folium During The Process Of Drying,Aging And Manufacturing Of Moxa Wool,and Establishment Of Quality Standard For Moxa Sticks

Artemisiae argyi Folium is a popular herbal medicine which is always employed in moxa sticks and oral dosage in clinical use.It has the functions of removing dampness,relieving pain,removing blood stasis,dispersing swelling,dredging collaterals,warming meridians and promoting blood circulation,which conduce to treatment of diseases caused by wind chill.Artemisiae argyi Folium contains complexly chemical components,which were mainly composed of volatile compounds,tannins,triterpenes,flavonoids,and phenolic acids compounds.Eucalyptol is the quality control marker for Artemisiae argyi Folium stipulated by Chinese pharmacopoeia.Moxibustion always used the aged Artemisiae argyi Folium.But how chemical components and physical factor change is not clear during aging process.Moreover,at present,the quality of moxa sticks with the different ratio of Artemisiae argyi Folium/moxa wool in the market is uneven,which cannot be effectively distinguished.Our research focused on the change of compounds during the drying of fresh Artemisiae argyi Folium with the different drying method,the analysis of components in the fresh and aged Artemisiae argyi Folium,and the analysis of chemical components and combustion characteristics of moxa wool with the different ratio of Artemisiae argyi Folium/moxa wool,the relevant research work has been carried out.Aiming at the variation of chemical components in Artemisiae argyi Folium dried by the different methods,the nonvolatile compounds were determined as the chemical markers by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector,which contained cryptochlorogenic acid,chlorogenic acid,caffeic acid,rutin,isochlorogenic acid B,isochlorogenic acid A,isochlorogenic acid C,jaceosidin and eupatilin.In this study,we came across that only trace amounts of phenolic acids and flavonoids were detected in fresh Artemisiae argyi Folium,the hydrophilic compounds(cryptochlorogenic acid,chlorogenic acid,rutin,isochlorogenic acid B,isochlorogenic acid A and isochlorogenic acid C)soared along with the decreased moisture,which began to obviously increase at about 30% moisture content.We observed that isochlorogenic acid B,isochlorogenic acid A and isochlorogenic acid C began to be dramatically produced at about 22 h,whose final content grew by almost 55 to 128-fold in the shade drying method.A similar phenomenon was also recorded in sunshine drying.Notably,the time was advanced at 1 h,whose final content grew by almost 43 to 111-fold.Compared with drying in the shade and sunshine drying,a different trend was outlined about the transformation of hydrophilic compounds in oven-drying(60 and 80 ?C).The content of hydrophilic compounds culminated at 1.5 h and 1 h,respectively,when fresh Artemisiae argyi Folium was dried at 60 and 80 ?C.With extension of the drying time,the target compounds degraded to reach a balanced level,whose final content rose by about 3 to 25-fold.It suggested that phenolic acids were mainly produced by biosynthesis process initiated by enzymes.The differences of(non)volatile compounds were systematically studied between the dried and aged Artemisiae argyi Folium.In order to overcome the influence of factors such as habitat,storage condition and sampling inhomogeneity,our group simulated aging process of Artemisiae argyi Folium for 30 days by employing of powder.It was found the volatile components with the low boiling point decreased significantly at 40 ?C,while those with the mid-and high boiling point decreased 20-58%.At 60 ?C,the peak area of the components with the low boiling point was below the LOD on 5th day,those with the mid-and high boiling point was below the LOD on 30 th day,and those with high boiling point was was rarely changed.At 60 ?C,the content of phenolic acids and flavonoids in Artemisiae argyi Folium was not be influenced.Generally,the aging process of Artemisiae argyi Folium was closely related with the variation of volatile compounds.Also,the focused compounds in Artemisiae argyi Folium and moxa sticks from different origins were determined,the RSD values of the tested components fluctuated between 25.8-70.9% and 16.4-36.6%,respectively,which may be caused by factors,such as habitats,harvesting period and drying method.Aiming at the confused condition of moxa sticks packed with moxa wool with the different ratio of Artemisiae argyi Folium/moxa wool(1:1,5:1,10:1 and 15:1)in the market,six phenolic acids and three flavonoids were determined by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector(the established method).It showed that the presented appearance of moxa wool varied from dark brown to grayish yellow along with the increase of the ratio of Artemisiae argyi Folium/moxa wool,and the content of hydrophilic compounds dropped by 58.67-84.06%.Compared with the content of phenolic acids and flavonoids in the corresponding moxa wool,the content of the tested compounds was higher in discarded powder.For the lipophilic compounds,jaceosidin and eupatilin,the gentle decline was unveiled by decreasing at about 25% from 1:1 to 15:1(Artemisiae argyi Folium/moxa wool).In view of asynchronous decline of hydrophilic and lipophilic compounds,the content ratio of hydrophilic compound and lipophilic compound was further employed to appraise distinction of the different moxa wool.Furthermore,the flaming characteristics of moxa sticks were detected.It was found that the burning rate of moxa sticks packed with the different moxa wool was significantly different,and the burning temperature and infrared spectrum were no obvious difference.The quality standard of moxa sticks was systematically studied.Chlorogenic acid and eupatilin were determined as the chemical markers by ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector.The packing uniformity of moxa sticks was detected by self-developed device,which was helpful to control the quality of moxa sticks.In this study,the analytical methods for determining nonvolatile and volatile compounds in Artemisiae argyi Folium were established and applied to study variation of chemical composition in Artemisiae argyi Folium under different drying conditions and aging process.It was unveiled that the distinctive characteristics of the content ratio between hydrophilic compound and lipophilic compound can be used for identification of moxa wool with the different ratio of Artemisiae argyi Folium/moxa wool.The quality control of moxa sticks was improved.This study has the important significance for the harvesting,drying and resource utilization of Artemisiae argyi Folium.