The Plant Print Apparent Structural Study Of 5 Aconitum Species In Changbai Mountain Of China

In the present study, the abaxial leaf epidermises of 66 families, 98 genera, 248 species medicinal plants in Changbai Mountain were observed with optical microscopy using the Plant Print technology. The characters of the Plant Print were summarized to be 15 types, including anomocytic, indefinite, anisocytic, paracytic, laterocytic, staurocytic, inequipolar, actinocytic, cyclocytic, auritate, decussate irregular, guard cell disparate, dumbbell-shape guard cell monocotyledon with long short epidermis cells, reniform guard cell monocotyledon and reniform guard cell monocotyledon with long short epidermis cells. The results indicated that medicinal plants in Changbai Mountain could be effectively identified according to the types of Plant Print characters, anticlinal wall and appendages of the leaf epidermises.The Plant Print characters (the length, width, perimeter and area of guard cells, as well as the perimeter and area of subsidiary cells, stomatal index and density) of 6 rare and precious medicinal plants (including Rhodiola sachalinensis A. Ber., Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi., Belamcanda Chinesis (L.) DC., Oxytropis anertii Nakai ex Kitag., Typhonium giganteum Engl. and Saposhnikovia divaricata (Turcz.) Schischk.), which belonging to different families and genus were measured and statistically analyzed, as well as 5 species of Aconitum plants, including A. kusnezoffii Reichb., A.umbrosum (Korsh.) Kom., A. coreanum (Lévl.) Rapaics, A. kirinense Nakai and A. barbatum Pers. The results indicated that based on 3 levels of characters, including Plant Print characteristics, the means of quantitated Plant Print characteristics, and significant correlations and optimal equations of linear regression between the characteristics, the identification of plants by Plant Print technology and statistics analysis had extremely high accuracy and reliability, no matter the plants without any relationships in family and genus or difficult to be discriminated in macroscopy taxonomy.The stems and leave of the 5 Aconitum species were applied to do the anatomical studies using optical microscopic technique. The result of anatomical study on stems showed that vasculars of stems of A. kusnezoffii, A.umbrosum and A. barbatum were quasi atactosteles, which did not have fascicular cambium, but contained bundle sheath composed of sclerenchyma. The stems had annular secretory canals outside of phloem fibres. All the vasculars arrayed two rings and dispersively distributed in elementary tissue of stem; vasculars of stems of A. coreanum and A. kirinense were open bundles with intradascicular cambium, but without bundle sheath and bundle sheath.The result of anatomical study on leave showed that leave of A. kusnezoffii were isobilateral leave without palisade tissue; palisade tissue of A.umbrosum and A. barbatum did not obviously differentiated. The above 3 species had annular secretory canals, and their mesophyll cells scarcely connected with each other. Aerating tissue of leave of A. coreanum was well developed; leave of A. coreanum had typical palisade tissue. A. coreanum and A. kirinense did not have annular secretory canals. Moreover, the anatomical structures of stems and leave of 5 Aconitum species had wet habitat-structural characters: mechanical tissue and corneous layer in tangential wall of epidermal cell of stems were less developed; aerating tissue of diachyma was developed, and air cavity connected to be reticulated; epidermis of leave had large amount of heterocyst, corneous layer was less developed; stoma in abaxial leaf epidermises of some species were outer projectured. It is confirmed that structure and habitat are unified.The 5 Aconitum species were applied to cluster analysis with 11 macroscopy binary characters of plants according to numerical taxonomy theory. The result of numerical taxonomy was consistent with that of traditional taxonomy, indicating the numerical taxonomy method used in the present study had high reliability. So we chose 66 characters, including morphologic characteristics, anatomical characteristics of aerial parts nutritive organ and Plant Print characteristics to do cluster analysis. The result indicated that A. umbrosum and A. barbatum had very close genetic relationships, but A. kirinense, which also belongs to Subgen. Praconitum, Sect. Praconitum, exhibited obvious difference from A. umbrosum and A. barbatum. While A. kusnezoffii showed close genetic relationships with the group of A. umbrosum and A. barbatum. Therefore, morphologic characteristics, anatomical characteristics of aerial parts nutritive organ and Plant Print characteristics were quantized and calculated to generate the quantitative comparison between the 5 Aconitum species according to the mathematic model, which is a scientific, objective and precise taxonomy compared to traditional taxonomy.Radix Aconiti ("Chuanwu", the mother roots of A. carmichaeli Debx.), Radix Aconiti Lateralis ("Fuzi", the daughter roots of A. carmichaeli) and Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii ("Caowu", the mother roots of A. Kusnezoffii) are the most commonly used traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) of Aconitum species. In the present study, the water-soluble polysaccharides of Radix Aconiti, Radix Aconiti Lateralis and Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii, were extracted, and named as AWP, LWP and KWP, respectively. The chemical analyses indicated the water-soluble polysaccharides of the three materials were all mainly composed of glucose, implying they were glucans.The antitumor and immunomodulatory assays showed that AWP, LWP and KWP not only had good antitumor activities, but also could enhance the host's immunity including nonspecific immunity, cellular immunity and humoral immunity, and restore the antitumor drug-suppressed immune function.The composition and pharmacological activity exhibited polysaccharides from Aconitum species, whatever from mother roots or daughter roots of the same plant, or mother roots of different plants, was a sort of bioactive substances. Therefore, the polysaccharides from Aconitum species might be conveniently exploited to be good immune stimulating modifiers and had great potential to be applied in the tumor therapy.