title: Authentication of Chinese Materia Medica decoction dregs. Part II: comparison before and after decoction of four Chinese Materia Medica that mainly comprise storage tissue.
abstract: Authentication of Chinese Materia Medica (CMM) decoction dregs is important for ensuring the efficacy and safety of CMM when they are used in decoction. If someone got worse or poisoned after taking a decoction while the formula is appropriate, the authentication of CMM dregs is the effective method to explore the reasons. Therefore, a systematic study on the authentication of CMM dregs was carried out. In this study, two pairs of easily confused CMM dregs, Fenge (Puerariae Thomsonii Radix) and Shanyao (Dioscoreae Rhizoma), Dihuang (Rehmanniae Radix) and Huangjing (Polygonati Rhizoma), which mostly comprise storage tissues, were investigated by comparing the morphological and microscopic characteristics. Fenge and Shanyao contain abundant starch granules. After decoction their dregs were hard, nonstarchy and horn-like. Fully gelatinized starch granules were found in the powder of Fenge dregs while incompletely gelatinized starch granules were occasionally found in the Shanyao dregs. In contrast, Dihuang and Huangjing contain water-soluble sugars. After decoction, their dregs were hard and brittle. Their parenchymatous cells were shrunken and unknown crystals were found under microscope. Hence, the morphological and microscopic characteristics of CMM before and after decoction were different, and different changes in the CMM dregs can be illustrated by the different nature of their ergastic substance. These differences could be used to authenticate CMM dregs.
authors.affiliation: School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lailai
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Zhitao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Hubiao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhongzhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry; D027742:Dioscorea / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry*; D008419:Materia Medica / Q000737:chemistry; D008853:Microscopy; D059828:Plant Cells / Q000737:chemistry; D031384:Polygonatum / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry*; D029908:Pueraria / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry*; D011786:Quality Control; D032267:Rehmannia / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry*; D012995:Solubility; D013213:Starch / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D008419:Materia Medica; D013213:Starch