| Moxa floss is the main material for moxibustion therapy.Generally,moxa is manufactured from Artemisia argyi Levi.et vant.Moxibustion-therapy is an indispensable part of traditional Chinese medicine,and it has been inherited for thousands of years because of its precise therapeutic effect,simple operation,and comfortable feeling.The mechanism of action of moxibustion mainly includes three directions:"heat",”light" and "drug".The role of "drug" is mainly derived from chemical components in moxa,including volatile and non-volatile substances;"light,heat" refers to the infrared and warming effect of moxa burning.The physical properties of moxa will change its combustion value and thus affect the "heat" effect of moxibustion.It will also affect the "light" effect such as infrared spectrum generated by moxa burning.The pharmacological effects of moxibustion are based on the chemical composition of moxa.Therefore,the quality of moxa is crucial on the efficacy of moxibustion.In the past,the evaluation of the quality of moxa depends on the senses and experience,which is subjective.It lacks specific and objective quality standards.This study analyzes moxa from the physical and chemical properties in an objective and rigorous manner and it will form a reliable and universal applicability evaluation standard.The establishment of moxa evaluation criteria is conducive to standardizing the storage,processing,and market circulation of moxa to improve the efficacy of moxibustion.OBJECTIVE:This study was conducted on moxa with different processing ratios,different storage years,and different processing techniques.Starting from the physical and chemical properties of Moxa,it will provide objective data support for the establishment of moxa quality assessment system and improvement of moxa quality control standards in order to standardize the moxa market and promote the improvement of moxa quality.METHOD:1.Identification of counterfeit products Firstly,thin-layer chromatography was used to identify the moxa made from the genuine moxa and the counterfeit moxa in this study.TLC silica gel precast plates and C18 reversed-phase thin-layer chromatography prefabricated plates were explored.2.The physical properties of moxa In terms of the physical properties of moxa,this study focus on the analysis of microscopic properties,ash content,moisture content,dust content and filling power to evaluate the quality of moxa.The microscopic traits of the moxa were observed using a stereomicroscope and an general microscope.Moxa samples were each weighed in an amount of 0.3g,dissolved in chloral hydrate and mixed,and the moxa characteristics of different processing methods at 4×10 and 20×10 were observed.1×10,2.5×10,and 4.5×10 microscopes with different proportions of velvet features.Microscopic grinding degree is the percentage of the large-diameter pieces of moxa with different ratio（10%,20%,30%,40%）under the stereo microscope of 4.5× 10 by ImageJ software,and the percentage of the total area of the visual field is calculated by removing the large-diameter pieces of crushed material,to evaluate the degree of velvet smash.The filling power is to put the moxa sample flat in a heating oven（70±2℃）for 30 minutes,weigh 25±0.1 g into the filling-power-tester,record the initial height of the moxa in the measuring cylinder（mm）,and the 500g plate was slowly placed in the graduated cylinder and the height was recorded again after 1 min.The difference between the two heights was counted as the filling power of the moxa.Weigh 10±0.01g moxa samples,put them into the moxa dust-test machine,and start it.After 1 min,remove the moxa accurately weighed（g）from the first layer and calculate the moxa dust content.The determination of moxa ash and moisture is based on the method of "Chinese Pharmacopoeia".3.Moxa volatile oil This study uses gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry（GC-MS）to investigate the content of moxa volatile oils.Firstly,GC-MS was used to quantitatively analyze the volatile oil of Moxa.The peak area was used to determine the 7 components with higher content and more correlation in Moxa（capreol,thujone,borneol,αterpineol,Eugenol,caryophyllene,carnation,etc.）The external standard method was used to determine the content of the above 7 volatile oils in moxa.RESULT:1.Counterfeit identification In the chromatograms of normal-phase thin-layer chromatographic silica gel plates and C18 reversed-phase thin-layer chromatographic silica plates,yellow spots should not appear under sunlight in the positions corresponding to the reference herbs.Under ultraviolet light,corresponding to the reference drugs bright blue spots should not appear on the location.2.Moxa physical properties Observe the microscopic properties of moxa.Under the microscope of 20× 10-fold,the processing technology of moxa can be distinguished.The moxa broken by the machine easily aggregates into a group,while the moxa velveteen produced by grinding is more uniform;at low magnification Under the microscope,it can be directly observed that the microscopic degree of grinding of the moxa is closely related to the processing proportion（p<0.05）.Using ImageJ software to analyze the moxa processing under the 4.5 ×10fold microscope,the microscopic degree of grinding of moxa was obtained,and the processing ratio was linearly related to the degree of moxa grinding（p<0.05）.The correlation coefficient was 0.968.Using the moxa-dust machine to sieve the moxa sample,and calculating the dust content.There was no significant difference in the moxa dust content between different processing techniques,and the moxa dust content was significantly different in different processing proportions（p<0.05）.Filling power is an important index to evaluate the degree of fluffiness and softness of moxa.Filling-power-tester is designed to quantify the fluffiness index of moxa.The processing ratio is linear with the fluffiness of moxa（p<0.05）,correlation coefficient is-0.81.Ash detection showed that the proportion of moxa processing was linearly related to ash（p<0.05）.The higher the processing ratio,the smaller the Moxa ash score.The Moisture Content of 18 Moxa samples was tested and the highest and lowest values were 3.0%and 8.0%respectively.3.Moxa volatile oil compositionThe results showed that the volatile oil content of New Moxa was relatively high,and the volatile oil content of Moxa made from dried leaves for more than one year was low,and there was no obvious trend on the relationship between the volatile oil and the year.Analysis of the trend of the content of each component showed that the content of eucalyptol,thujone,αterpineol,eugenol,and caryophyllene in the moxa was basically decreased with the increase of year,and the caryophyll was slowly increased with the storage time,and the content was increased.The borneol is less stable,and there is no steady increase or decrease.CONCLUSION:1.Counterfeit identification Using normal-phase thin-layer chromatographic silica gel plates and C18 reversed-phase thin-layer chromatographic silica gel plates can distinguish between two types of moxa counterfeit products quickly and accurately,resulting in stable results.2.Moxa physical propertiesBy observing the microscopic features of Moxa,the processing technology and processing ratio of moxa can be distinguished.The microscopic degree of grinding of moxa is analyzed by ImageJ software.This method is used to quantify the degree of smoky velvet and the fineness of processing.The degree of velvet crushing is not less than 60%.The moxa-dust machine was used for screening,and the moxa dust content was calculated.The procedure of moxa dust content test and the limiting value were determined.The dust rate of moxa was not more than 15%.Filling power is an important index to evaluate the degree of fluffiness and softness of the moxa.In this study,the method for determining the fluffiness of the moxa was determined and the limit value was determined.The compliance criteria for the filling power of the moxa was set at 40 mm at least.It is proposed that the total ash content of moxa should not exceed 11%,the acid insoluble ash content must not exceed 0.1%,and the moisture content must not exceed 7.5%.3.Moxa volatile oil componentsAfter a short period of time after the production of moxa,new and old moxa were significantly different,which can better distinguish new moxa. |
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