title: Post-harvest induced production of salvianolic acids and significant promotion of antioxidant properties in roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen).
abstract: Danshen, the dried roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza, is an extremely valued Traditional Chinese Medicine. Previously, we have demonstrated that salvianolic acid B (SaB), the important bioactive ingredient in this herb, was a post-harvest product. Here, we further reported that all salvianolic acids (SAs) in the roots were post-harvest products of the drying process. In addition, the results of various radical scavenging activity assays, including lipid peroxidation (1), DPPH (2), hydroxyl (3) and superoxide (4), were significantly increased along with the accumulation of total salvianolic acids in the process. The contents of chemical targets and antioxidant activities both reached the highest value under thermal treatment at 130 °C for 80 min. In this dehydration period, contents of SaB, and sum of nine SAs increased from 0.01% to 5.51%, and 0.20% to 6.61%; and IC50 of antioxidant activity decreased from 4.85 to 2.69 (1); 7.75 to 0.43 (2); 2.57 to 1.13 (3) and 17.25 to 1.10 mg/mL. These results further supported the hypothesis that the newly harvested plant roots were still physiologically active and the secondary metabolites might be produced due to dehydration stress after harvest. Our findings supplied an important and useful theoretical basis for promoting the quality of Danshen and other medicinal plant materials.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Natural Products, Institute of Plant Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Guo-Jun
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Natural Products, Institute of Plant Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Traditional Chinese Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230038, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Mei
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Resources Science of Traditional Chinese Medicines & Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicines (Ministry of Education), China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Min-Jian
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Natural Products, Institute of Plant Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Ben-Ke
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Kuai
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Natural Products, Institute of Plant Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. tszhou@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Tong-Shui
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000475:Alkenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism*; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000378:metabolism; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000737:chemistry*; D059808:Polyphenols / Q000378:metabolism*; D027561:Salvia miltiorrhiza / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000475:Alkenes; D000975:Antioxidants; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D059808:Polyphenols; C568740:salvianolic acid