Institute of Economic Crops, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Science, Wuhan 430064, China.
Vegetable Germplasm Innovation and Genetic Improvement Key Laboratory of Hubei Province, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Science, Wuhan 430064, China.
Molecules. 2022 May 3;27(9):2913. doi: 10.3390/molecules27092913.
Muskmelon pedicel is the fruit stalk of muskmelon and one of the traditional Chinese medicines, which can be used to treat jaundice, diabetes and neuropathy. However, in recent years, agricultural soil heavy metal cadmium (Cd) pollution has become serious, coupled with the imperfect sales management of herbal medicine, increasing the potential health risk of contaminated herbal medicine in the human body. In this paper, the comprehensive quality of contaminated muskmelon was tested. The results showed that Cd stress significantly inhibited the growth of muskmelon plants, reduced the anthocyanin and chlorophyll contents, and increased the fruit size and sweetness of muskmelon. In addition, heavy metal Cd can also cause oxidative stress in plants, resulting in a series of changes in antioxidant enzyme activities. In the experimental group, the content of polyphenols and saponins increased by 27.02% and 23.92%, respectively, after high-concentration Cd treatment, which may be a mechanism of plant resistance to stress. This paper reveals that the content of bioactive substances in Chinese herbal medicine is high, but the harm in heavy metals cannot be underestimated, which should be paid attention to by relevant departments.
香瓜蒂是香瓜的果柄，也是一种传统中药材，可用于治疗黄疸、糖尿病和神经病变。然而，近年来，农业土壤重金属镉（Cd）污染问题日益严重，再加上中药材销售管理不完善，增加了受污染中药材对人体健康的潜在风险。本文对受污染香瓜的综合品质进行了测试。结果表明，Cd 胁迫显著抑制了香瓜植株的生长，降低了其花色苷和叶绿素的含量，同时增加了香瓜的果实大小和甜度。此外，重金属 Cd 还会导致植物发生氧化应激，使抗氧化酶活性发生一系列变化。在实验组中，经高浓度 Cd 处理后，香瓜中的多酚和皂苷含量分别增加了 27.02%和 23.92%，这可能是植物应对胁迫的一种机制。本文揭示了中药材中生物活性物质含量高，但重金属的危害也不容忽视，这应引起相关部门的重视。
