Objective:To compare the volatile constituents in mugwort leaves produced in Qichun, Hubei Province and Nanyang, Henan Province.
Methods:The volatile constituents were extracted using headspace heating and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Then a qualitative analysis was made according to the standard database provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the relative contents of each constituent were calculated using the peak area normalization method.
Results:A total of 59 compounds were identified from the mugwort leaves from Qichun and 51 compounds were identified from the mugwort leaves from Nanyang. These mainly include monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, CxHyOz and other compounds involving the aldehyde, ketone, alkane and benzene. The mugwort leaves from Qichun and Nanyang share 32 common volatile constituents. The chromatographic peak area of identified compounds accounting for 96.38% of GC-MS total chromatographic peak areain Qichun mugwort leaves, versus 95.54% of that in Nanyang mugwort leaves.
Conclusion:The headspace heating extraction combined with GC-MS technology can evidently display similarities and differences of volatile constituents in mugwort leaves produced in different areas and thus provide scientific basis for the quality and screening of mugwort leaves.

Objective To observe the clinical significance and effect of dysfunction of dendritic cell( DC) in colorectal cancer with liver metastasis.Methods Peripheral blood were respectively collected from healthy adult donors (30 cases), preoperative and postoperative coloreatal cancer patients without liver metastasis (30 cases) , and 30 postoperative coloreatal cancer patients with liver metastasis from Jan 2008 to Jun 2010.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were separated, GM-CSF( 1000 U/ml) , IL-4( 1000 U/ml) and TNF-α ( 1000 U /ml) were added into cell culture fluid to induce the mononuclear cells for mature dendritic cells.There were two subgroups, and in antigen processing subgroup the lysate of HT29 colonic carcinoma cells (100 μg/ml) were added into the cell culture fluid.The T lymphocytes from healthy adults were added into two subgroups by ratio of 1∶10 ( DCs∶ T cells) , cocultured for 7 days.The level of INF-γ and IL-10 in cell culture fluid was assayed with ELISA method.The optical density (OD) of CCK8 ans LDH was assayed with ELIASA to indirectly measure the reproductive activity and the killing efficacy of T lymphocytes.Results The IL-10 level in cocultured fluid of peripheral blood DCs in postoperative colorectal carcinoma patients with liver metastasis and T lymphocytes of healthy adults was significantly higher than that of preoperative patients of colorectal carcinoma and health adults without tumor antigenic stimulation(11.9±1.3) pg/ml vs.(29.6±9.7) pg/ml, (23.4±8.0) pg/ml, F =4.475, P ＜0.05).The IFN-γ level in cocultured fluid of peripheral blood DCs in postoperative colorectal carcinoma patients with liver metastasis and T lymphocytes of healthy adults was significantly higher than that of postoperative patients of colorectal carcinoma and healthy adults with or without tumor antigenic stimulation ( 34 ± 9) pg/ml vs.(26 ± 12 ) pg/ml, (24 ± 6) pg/ml, F = 5.206, P ＜ 0.05).The killing activity of healthy adults T lymphocytes induced by HT29 colonic carcinoma cells in postoperative colorectal carcinoma patients with liver metastasis was significantly higher than that of preoperative patients of colorectal carcinoma and healthy adults (30.6 ±8.6) pg/ml vs.(12.1 ±2.4) pg/ml, (14.9 ± 1.7) pg/ml, F =4.147, P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions T lymphocytes produce IL-10 when indued by DCs from patients with colorectal carcinoma under stimulation of tumor antigen leading to tumor immune escape and liver metastasis.The killing activity of T lymphocytes can be enhanced when stimulated by exogenous tmuor antigen.