Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis and Metabolomics, Jiangsu Province Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210028, PR China.
Food Chem. 2012 Dec 1;135(3):1141-7. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.05.116. Epub 2012 Jun 9.
White ginseng was reported to be sulphur-fumigated during post-harvest handling. In the present study, the influence of sulphur-fumigation on the quality of white ginseng and its decoction were quantitatively evaluated through simultaneous quantification of 14 major ginsenosides by a validated high performance liquid chromatography. Poroshell 120 EC-C18 (100mm×3.0mm, 2.7μm) column was chosen for the separation of the major ginsenosides, which were eluted with gradient water and acetonitrile as mobile phase. The analytes were monitored by UV at 203nm. The method was validated in terms of linearity, sensitivity, precision, accuracy and stability. The sulphur-fumigated and non-fumigated white ginseng samples, as well as their respective decoctions, were comparatively analysed with the newly-validated method. It was found that the contents of nine ginsenosides detected in raw materials decreased by about 3-85%, respectively, and the total content of the nine ginsenosides detected in raw materials, decreased by almost 54% after sulphur-fumigation. On the other hand, the contents of 10 ginsenosides detected in decoctions of sulphur-fumigated white ginseng were decreased by about 33-83%, respectively, and the total content of ginsenosides was decreased by up to 64% when compared with that of non-fumigated white ginseng. In addition, ginsenoside Rh(2) and Rg(5) could be detected in the decoctions of sulphur-fumigated white ginseng but not in that of non-fumigated white ginseng. It is suggested that sulphur-fumigation can significantly influence not only the contents of original ginsenosides, but also the decocting-induced chemical transformation of ginsenosides in white ginseng.
白参在收获后处理过程中据报道会被硫磺熏蒸。在本研究中，通过同时定量测定 14 种主要人参皂苷，利用高效液相色谱法对硫磺熏蒸对白参及其汤剂质量的影响进行了定量评价。Poroshell 120 EC-C18（100mm×3.0mm，2.7μm）柱用于主要人参皂苷的分离，流动相为梯度水和乙腈。用 UV 在 203nm 处监测分析物。该方法在线性、灵敏度、精密度、准确度和稳定性方面均进行了验证。采用新验证的方法对硫磺熏蒸和非熏蒸白参样品及其各自的汤剂进行了比较分析。结果发现，在原料中检测到的九种人参皂苷的含量分别降低了约 3-85%，而在硫磺熏蒸后，在原料中检测到的九种人参皂苷的总含量几乎降低了 54%。另一方面，硫磺熏蒸白参汤剂中 10 种人参皂苷的含量分别降低了约 33-83%，与非熏蒸白参相比，人参皂苷的总含量降低了高达 64%。此外，在硫磺熏蒸白参汤剂中可以检测到人参皂苷 Rh(2)和 Rg(5)，但在非熏蒸白参汤剂中则无法检测到。这表明硫磺熏蒸不仅会显著影响原始人参皂苷的含量，还会影响白参在煎煮过程中人参皂苷的转化。
