Comparative Study On Chemical Components And Pharmacological Of Curcuma Wenyujin

Curcuma wenyujin Y.H. Chen et C.Ling is a member of the genus curcuma (Zingiberaceae). It is cultivated in the southeast of China which was used for centuries as traditional medicine in China with the efficacy of removing blood stasis, treating jaundice, stimulating the menstrual discharge and relieving pain. An overview of the literatures showed that the essential oils and sesquiteipenes were the major active components of C. wenyujin. Three medicines were made from C. wenyujin by different parts or preliminary process. Pianjianghuang (PJH) was the rhizome of C. wenyujin which was dried in the sun directly after being harvested. Wenezhu (WEZ) was steamed rhizome of C. wenyujin which was steamed to be soft in boiling water after harvest and dried in the sun. Wenyujin (WYJ) was the steamed tuberous root of C. wenyujin which was steamed to be soft in boiling water after harvest and dried in the sun. In clinic, PJH was used for alleviating pain of arthrosis and anti-inflammation, while WEZ was usually used for removing blood stasis, anticancer and antivirus and WYJ was used as a hepatoprotective medicine. But due to the same origin, they shared a great deal of similarity, morphologically, chemically and genetically. The differences of chemical constituents among the three medicines were studied and the relationship between chemical components and distinct efficacy was discussed in this text.First, the similarities and differences among three medicines were found through the composition analysis and statistical research. The LC-MS and GC-MS methods were used to maximize the characterization of the chemical components and to compare them among the three medicines. It was found that their chemical compositions were similar, while the contents of several compounds were diverse. The method to distinguish three medicines was established by principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square discriminate analysis (PLS-DA).Second, it was found that the contents of the main components in the three medicines were distinct according to quantitative determination. Nine components were quantified by HPLC method, including zedoarondiol, isozedoarondiol, aerugidiol,(4s,5s)-germacrone-4,5-epoxid, curcumenone, neocurdione, curdione, germacrone and furanodiene. It was showed that the component contents in WYJ were lower than those of WEZ and PJH. Compared with PJH, the content of (4s,5s)-germacrone-4,5-epoxid in WEZ decreased significantly while the level of curcumenone increased obviously, which showed that some components in C. wenyujin might transform when steamed in boiling water. To further investigate the difference in component contents among the three medicines, eight components, including eucalyptol, camphor, isoborneol, borneol, β-elemene, curzerene, germacrone, and curdione, were quantified used by GC-MS method. Results showed that some volatile components with low boiling point such as eucalyptol, camphor, isoborneol, borneol reduced notably in WYJ and WEZ, which indicated that some volatile components with low boiling point might be evaporated during processing with boiling water.Third, the mechanism of the processing rhizome of C. wenyujin was preliminarily clarified on the basis of kinetics studies. A kinetics study was conducted by decocting PJH and (4s,5s)-germacrone-4,5-epoxide in aqueous solution respectively to investigate the chemical transformation during steaming process. It was found that (4s,5s)-germacrone-4,5-epoxide decreased sharply in boiling water and converted to seven degradation products. Four of them were identified as sesquiterpenes i.e. zedoarondiol, isozedoarondiol, epicurcumenol, and curcumenone. The chemical conversion in PJH was similar with that of (4s,5s)-germacrone-4,5-epoxide, but the conversion rate was relatively slow.Fourth, a quantitative method was established to control the quality of the three medicines. The easily available and stable active component curdione was selected as the reference compound for calculating the RCF of the other sesquiterpenes. This method was presented for simultaneously determining multiple sesquiterpenes in the three medicines from C. wenyujin by using only one standard reference. The quality evaluation method for PJH, quantitative analysis multi-components by single marker (QAMS) was potentially adopted by the2015version of pharmacopoeia of People’s Pepublic of China. Fifth, the distinct efficacy of the three medicines was represented by comparing the results of experience based on clinic. Severeal pharmacodynamic tests were carried out and the hepatoprotective, anti-oxidant, and anti-microbial potency of PJH, WEZ, WYJ were compared. Acute liver injury model induced by ANIT was used to study hepatoprotective effect of their alcohol extracts. The result showed that PJH and WEZ have hepatoprotective activity on reducing serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase, while WYJ was inactive. Results of the anti-oxidant potency were showed that DPPH radical scavenging capacity of the three alcohol extracts were stronger than that of three essential oils, in which alcohol extract of PJH was the best. Among three essential oils, the oil of WYJ was the first which has the strongest anti-oxidant activity, next was the oil of WEZ, and the last was the oil of PJH. The antimicrobial activity of the three essential oils and six main ingredients were tested against two bacterial and one fungal strains. It was found that the essential oil of PJH showed a higher antimicrobial activity in comparison to those of WEZ and WYJ. The tested monoterpenes eucalyptol, camphor, isobomeol demonstrated a higher inhibitory activity than the sesquiterpenes germacrone, curdione and β-elemene. Therefore, the potent inhibitory effect of the essential oils from C. wenyujin might be attributed to the higher content of monoterpenes.