Studies On The Quality Assessment Of Eriobotryae Folium

Eriobotryae Folium is the dried leaf of Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. (Fam. Rosaceae), which is a traditional Chinese medicine recorded in each versions of "Chinese Pharmacopoeia " . It tastes bitter and pungent, slightly cold in nature and belongs to the Lung Meridian and stomach meridian,to remove heat from the lung and the stomach ,and to relieve cough and vomiting. Pharmacological studies have shown good anti-inflammatory and cough effect of the Eriobotryae Folium. Some recent researches also found that Eriobotryae Folium have other effects such as anti-tumor, antiviral, hypoglycemic, hepatoprotective and choleretic, scavenging oxygen free radicals, enhance immune function and so on. Eriobotryae Folium is rich in resources in China, mainly in the South Region and Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and other places. Cultivation area is 112,800 hm2, accounting for more than 50% of world production.Eriobotryae Folium could be harvested throughout a year, but no strict standards on the harvesting time. The main active ingredients of Eriobotryae Folium are flavonoids and triterpene acids. The flavonoids in Eriobotryae Folium are a series of compounds with mother-nucleus of quercetin and kaempferol, but content is low. In this study, flavonoids in Eriobotryae Folium was hydrolysised, quercetin and kaempferol were as the target compounds of the content of flavonoids, and have established the determination method of flavonoids of Eriobotryae Folium. This study have compared the contents of total flavonoids, quercetin and kaempferol of Eriobotryae Folium collecting from different regions and different months. The experiments determinated the content of quercetin and kaempferol after hydrolysis, then calculating the total flavonoids, the total flavonoids contents differ significantly in different months, the contents of samples in April and May were high, and in the month of July, August, September also high, and March was the lowest. The flowering season is the months of September to November and the fruiting season is the months of April to May in the following year, and content of total flavonoids in the months of September, October and the months April, May are higher, and relatively low content in the months of March, June, November. It proves that contents of flavonoids with flowering and fruiting may exist certain correlation, but how the relationship between them should look forward to the further study. Eriobotryae Folium from different regions, the quercetin and kaempferol levels are different maybe because of the environment, growth time, picking time and other factors. This study have measured contents of the four batches of Eriobotryae Folium samples before and after processing(Paozhi). After processing, the quercetin, kaempferol and total flavonoids are less than before, and of which quercetin is decreased in the largest proportion, probably post-processing the chemical structure of flavonoids was changed so the content resulted in lower. This study was first build the method in the simultaneous determination of content of quercetin and kaempferol in Eriobotryae Folium which is accurate and reliable, reproducible, strong features, simple and so on.In recent years, a large number of studies have found that the ursolic acid and oleanolic acid in Eriobotryae Folium has significant anti-tumor and boost the immune function beside anti-inflammatory, safeguard liver and analgesic. In the quality control standards of Eriobotryae Folium, The contents of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid were determinated in"Chinese Pharmacopoeia"(2010 edition, partâ… ) . This experiment has show that the oleanolic acid and ursolic acid content are change by the different seasons, while the content of ursolic acid has change little. And the contents of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid are also a little different from the different regions. The contents of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid have decreased after processing, but not very significant.In this study, Pharmacology experiments for relieving cough and asthma and reducing sputum have be done by the samples include the water extract and alcohol extract both raw and processing Eriobotryae Folium, and the flavonoid fraction and triterpene fraction. The results show that the water extract is better than the alcohol extract. And the effect of the processing Folium Eriobotryae's water extract is the best. Compared with the control group, the flavonoid fraction and triterpenoid fraction also have the effects of cough and asthma.The contents of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid were slightly decreased after processing, while the flavonoid was decreased by nearly a half. But the pharmacological experiments show that ffective of processing Eriobotryae Folium is much better than raw Eriobotryae Folium on the cough, phlegm and asthma. There are other compounds that work in pharmacological action.