Liang Xiaoguang, Li Bo, Wu Fei, Li Tingzhao, Wang Youjie, Ma Qiang, Liang Shuang
Engineering Research Center of Modern Preparation Technology of TCM, Ministry of Education, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China.
Amway (China) R & D Center Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 Mar 29;17(1):180. doi: 10.1186/s12906-017-1701-8.
Bitter herbs are important in Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Electronic Tongue (e-Tongue) is an instrument that can be trained to evaluate bitterness of bitter herbs and their constituents. The aim of this research was to evaluate bitterness of limonoids and alkaloids from Evodia rutaecarpa to demonstrate that they are main bitter material basic of E. rutaecarpa.
Nine compounds, including limonoids, indoloquinazoline alkaloids and quinolone alkaloids, were isolated, identified and analyzed by the e-Tongue. Additionally, the antibacterial activities of the nine compounds were evaluated against E. coli and S. aureus.
All the nine compounds had bitter taste and antibacterial activities to some extent. Among them, limonoids, which were the bitterest compounds, had greater antibacterial activities than alkaloids. And there is a positive correlation between bitter taste and antibacterial activities.
It was confirmed in our study that limonoids, indoloquinazoline alkaloids and quinolone alkaloids are main bitter material basic of E. rutaecarpa based on two evaluation methods of e-Tongue and antibacterial experiment. In addition, the e-Tongue technique is a suitable new method to measure bitter degree in herbs.
苦味草药在传统中药中很重要，电子舌是一种可经训练用于评估苦味草药及其成分苦味的仪器。本研究的目的是评估吴茱萸中柠檬苦素和生物碱的苦味，以证明它们是吴茱萸主要的苦味物质基础。
通过电子舌对包括柠檬苦素、吲哚喹唑啉生物碱和喹诺酮生物碱在内的9种化合物进行分离、鉴定和分析。此外，评估了这9种化合物对大肠杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌的抗菌活性。
所有9种化合物都有一定程度的苦味和抗菌活性。其中，柠檬苦素是最苦的化合物，其抗菌活性比生物碱更强。并且苦味与抗菌活性之间存在正相关。
基于电子舌和抗菌实验这两种评估方法，本研究证实柠檬苦素、吲哚喹唑啉生物碱和喹诺酮生物碱是吴茱萸主要的苦味物质基础。此外，电子舌技术是一种适用于测量草药苦味程度的新方法。
