Xiao Ling, Jiang Tao, Nie Jing, Cheng Ying
Hubei Provincial Institute for Food and Drug Control, Wuhan 430075, China.
Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi. 2016 Jun;41(12):2216-2220. doi: 10.4268/cjcmm20161208.
Sulfur fumigation usually causes transformation of chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). As for the process and storage of TCM, the sulfur fumigation has been no longer recommended by the government. This study is to explore the impact of the sulfur fumigation on the quality of Scutellariae Radix. Distillation combined with ion-chromatography was used to evaluate the residue of sulfur dioxide in 180 batches of Scutellariae Radix decoction pieces and 26 batches of Scutellariae Radix herbs. In addition, LC-MS combined with principal component analysis (PCA) was used to compare the changes in chemical components and flavonoid content in radix scutellariae before and after sulfur fumigation. As a result, 74 batches of Scutellariae Radix decoction pieces were determined to be unqualified on the basis of the residue limit of sulfur dioxide in Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2015 Vol. Ⅳ (≤150 mg•kg⁻¹), with a qualification rate of 35.9%. All of the unqualified samples were decoction pieces. The fingerprint and PCA indicates that flavonoid content of Scutellariae Radix had no change before and after sulfur fumigation, but flavonoid glycosides decreased after sulfur fumigation and baicalin decreased sharply. The flavonoid glycoside was hydrolyzed to flavone aglycone in the process of sulfur fumigation, which caused the decrease in content of falvonoid glycosides and had an impact on the quality of Scutellariae Radix. The decoction pieces of Scutellariae Radix were seriously fumigated with sulfur in the processing, suggesting the key regulatory point is the decoction pieces production process.
硫磺熏蒸通常会导致中药化学成分发生变化。对于中药的加工和储存过程，政府已不再推荐使用硫磺熏蒸。本研究旨在探讨硫磺熏蒸对黄芩质量的影响。采用蒸馏结合离子色谱法测定180批次黄芩饮片和26批次黄芩药材中的二氧化硫残留量。此外，采用液相色谱-质谱联用结合主成分分析（PCA）比较硫磺熏蒸前后黄芩化学成分和黄酮类成分的变化。结果显示，根据《中国药典》2015年四部中二氧化硫残留限量标准（≤150mg•kg⁻¹），有74批次黄芩饮片不合格，合格率为35.9%。所有不合格样品均为饮片。指纹图谱和主成分分析表明，硫磺熏蒸前后黄芩的黄酮类成分含量无变化，但黄酮苷类成分在硫磺熏蒸后减少，黄芩苷含量急剧下降。黄酮苷类成分在硫磺熏蒸过程中水解为黄酮苷元，导致黄酮苷类成分含量降低，影响了黄芩的质量。黄芩饮片在加工过程中硫磺熏蒸现象严重，提示关键监管点在于饮片生产过程。
