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.
Highlights
Danshen, the dried roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. (Labiatae), is one of the most important and highly valued Traditional Chinese Medicines which is currently receiving worldwide attention for its potential to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases [1,2,3]
The results revealed that 130 °C was the optimal temperature for the production of salvianolic acids (SAs)
Results of the present study further demonstrated that salvianolic acid B (SaB), the predominant bioactive constituent of Danshen, was a post-harvest product
Summary
The dried roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. (Labiatae), is one of the most important and highly valued Traditional Chinese Medicines which is currently receiving worldwide attention for its potential to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases [1,2,3]. SaB, TNIIa, and other ingredients in S. miltiorrhiza roots and their preparations varied significantly [9,10,11] These variations were usually ascribed to differences in germplasm and environmental/climate factors [12]. Our previous study reported that SaB, the most important and abundant bioactive component of Danshen, was a product of the post-harvest drying process at 50–120 °C oven temperature; while the compositions and contents of all TNs were almost unchanged [24]. The change trends of other SAs aside from SaB and the overall antioxidant activities (OAs) needed to be comprehensively explored These messages are important for verifying our previous findings and uncovering the biosynthetic mechanism and the possible precursor of SaB production. After determining the most suitable temperature, i.e., 130 °C, we conducted a comprehensive analysis on changes of SAs and OAs during the dehydration process
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