title: [Mechanism of copper and zinc on tanshinones of cultivated Salvia miltiorrhiza].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the mechanism of microelement including Cu and Zn on the accumulation of three danshinones in Salviae miltiorrhizae root and build a theory basis for its good quality and high yield.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sand culture experiments were conducted to study the effect of Cu and Zn on the accumulation of three danshinones and oxidase including peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activity in the plant root. The correlation between available Cu and Zn contents in matrix and oxidase activity in the plant root and, the correlation between available Cu and Zn contents in matrix and contents of tanshinones in the root were discussed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Contents of danshinones in the root increased with the increasing of Cu and Zn concentration. Dynamic monitoring on contents of dan-shinones of the plant roots growing in the pots with different Cu and Zn concentration in the whole growing season showed that the contents of danshinones for 60 days were the lowest, for 120 days the highest and then dropped for 150 days. In addition, among available Cu and Zn contents of matrix, oxidase including peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activity and contents of tanshinones in the root,the correlation between two factors were significant difference (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The mechanism of Cu and Zn on the accumulation of danshinones may be that Cu and Zn improve the activity of peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase, which promote transformation of phenolic compounds to terpenes and therefore to increase contents of danshinones.
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: De-hui
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xian-he
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Kang-cai
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ya-qin
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Jing-yu
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D045784:Abietanes; D004156:Catechol Oxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D009195:Peroxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D010616:Phenanthrenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D027561:Salvia miltiorrhiza / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D045784:Abietanes; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D010616:Phenanthrenes; D010940:Plant Proteins; C021751:tanshinone; D003300:Copper; D004156:Catechol Oxidase; D009195:Peroxidase; D015032:Zinc