OBJECTIVETo establish a rapid determination method of pinoresinol diglucoside in Eucommiae unloads by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS).

METHODForty-one samples of E. unloads were collected from three different producing areas and their main component, namely pinoresinol diglucoside, was determined by HPLC. Corresponding data of samples were collected from 12 000 to 4 000 cm(-1) by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy. The spectral pretreatment was optimized by OPUS software and the calibration equations between the content of pinoresinol diglucoside and spectrum data were constructed by partial least squares regression.

RESULTAvailable information could be extracted from spectra in the range from 7 502 to 4 597.6 cm(-1) after corrected by applying second derivative transformation and subtract a linear correction. Cross validation was used to prevent over-fitting. Good correlation existed between pinoresinol diglucoside content and NIR spectra ( R2 = 0.926 4, SEC = 0.029 and SEP = 0.066 2).

CONCLUSIONNIRS calibration equations developed in this study could be applied to the rapid analysis of the pinoresinol diglucoside content.

Eucommiaceae ; chemistry ; Lignans ; analysis ; Spectrophotometry, Infrared ; methods ; Time Factors

According to the 2010 Chinese pharmacopeia, salt processed and charcoal processed Eucommiae Cortex were pre- pared. HPLC-DAD analysis of the content of the bark and leaf of Eucommiae Cortex showed that the bark of Eucommiae Cortex mainly contained lignans such as pinoresinol glucose and iridoid including genipin, geniposide, geniposidic acid, while the leaf of Eucommiae Cortex consisted of flavonoids such as quercetin and phenolic compound such as chlorogenic acid. The content of pinoresinol diglucoside in the bark of Eucommiae Cortex was about 18 times more than that in the leaf of Eucommiae Cortex. The content of pinoresinol diglucoside in salted and charcoal processed Eucommiae Cortex decreased approximately by 30% and 85%, respectively. The content of genipin, geniposide and geniposidic acid in the bark of Eucommiae Cortex was about 3 times, 23 times, 28 times more than that in the leaf of Eucommiae Cortex. The content of genipin, geniposide and geniposidic acid in salted Eucommiae Cortex were reduced by 25%, 40% and 40%, respectively. The content of genipin, geniposide and geniposidic acid in charcoal processed Eucommiae Cortex were reduced by 98%, 70%, 70%, respectively. The content of caffeic acid in bark of Eucommiae Cortex was about 3 times more than that in the leaf of Eucommiae Cortex. The content of caffeic acid was decreased by about 50% in the salted Eucommiae Cortex. While the content of caffeic acid in charcoal processed Eucommiae Cortex was decreased approximately 75%; the content of chlorogenic acid in bark of Eucommiae Cortex was about 1/6 of that in the leaf of Eucommiae Cortex. The content of chlorogenic acid in salted and charcoal processed Eucommiae Cortex decreased by 40% and 75%, respectively; the content of quercetin in bark of Eucommiae Cortex was only 1/40 of that in the leaf of Eucommiae Cortex. The content of quercetin in salted and charcoal processed Eucommiae Cortex were reduced by 60% and 50%, respectively.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Eucommiaceae ; chemistry ; Flavonoids ; chemistry ; Plant Bark ; chemistry ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry

Eucommia ulmoides is a valuable traditional Chinese medicine, whose cortexes have long been used as medi cines. Due to the scarcity of its resources, people began using its leaves instead of cortexes in medicines. Eucommiae Folium and its leaves have many pharmacological effects and thereby being clinically applied as genuine traditional Chinese medicines. Modern pharmological studies have showed that Eucommiae Folium leaves have such effects as blood pressure reduction, blood lipid regulation, cardiovascular protection, anti-obesity, anti-inflammation, anti-virus, enhancement of immunologic function, resistance against senility and anti-fatigue. In clinic, Eucommiae Folium is mainly used to treat hypertention and obstetrical and gynecological disease. The essay summarizes the latest advance in domestic and foreign studie on pharmacological effeets and clinical applications of Eucommiae Folium leaves, and thus providing reference for studies on new drugs of Eucommiae Folium leave.
Animals ; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Eucommiaceae ; chemistry ; Humans

This study aims to develop the pre-column derivatization high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) method for the determination of 16 kinds of amino acids in Eucommia ulmoides leaves, and compare the content of amino acids in the leaves harvested at different time and under leaf-oriented cultivation mode(LCM) and arbor forest mode(AFM). The HPLC conditions are as below: phenyl isothiocyanate(PITC) as pre-column derivatization agent, Agilent ZORBAX C_(18 )column(4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm), mobile phase A of acetonitrile-water(80∶20), mobile phase B of 0.1 mol·L~(-1) sodium acetate solution-acetonitrile(94∶6), gradient elution, flow rate of 1.0 mL·min~(-1), injection volume of 5 μL, column temperature of 40 ℃, and detection wavelength of 254 nm. The HPLC profile indicated well separation of 16 kinds of amino acids and the amino acid content in E. ulmoides leaves was up to 16.26%. In addition, the amino acid content in leaves of E. ulmoides under LCM was higher than under AFM. The amino acid content varied with the harvesting time. Through orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis, the amino acids of E. ulmoides under LCM and AFM were compared, which can distinguish the leaves under LCM from those under AFM. Principal component analysis was applied to comprehensively score the amino acids of E. ulmoides leaves. The results showed that the score of leaves under LCM was higher than that under AFM. Nutritional evaluation results indicated that the proteins in E. ulmoides leaves belonged to high-quality vegetable proteins. The established method for the determination of amino acid content is reliable. With the amino acid content as index, the leaf quality of E. ulmoides under LCM is better than that under AFM. This study lays a theoretical basis for the promotion of LCM for E. ulmoides and the development of medicinal and edible products from E. ulmoides leaves.
Amino Acids/metabolism* ; Eucommiaceae/chemistry* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods* ; Plant Leaves/chemistry*

To study the effects of different drying methods on the quality of male flowers of Eucommia ulmoides(MFOEU), we treated fresh MFOEU samples with drying in the shade(DS), vacuum freeze drying(VFD), high-or low-temperature hot air drying(HTHAD, LTHAD), microwave drying(MD), and vacuum drying(VD), respectively. The color, total flavonoid content, total polysaccharide content, and main active components such as geniposide, geniposidic acid, rutin, chlorogenic acid, galuteolin, pinoresinol diglucoside, and aucubin in MFOEU were taken as the evaluation indicators. The quality of MFOEU was comprehensively evaluated by entropy weight method combined with color index method, partial least squares discriminant analysis and content clustering heat map. The experimental results showed that VFD and DS basically kept the original color of MFOEU. The MFOEU treated with MD had higher content of total polysaccharides, phenylpropanoids, lignans, and iridoids. The MFOEU treated with LTHAD had higher content of total flavonoids and that treated with VD had lower content of active components. According to the results of comprehensive evaluation, the quality of MFOEU dried with different methods followed the order of MD>HTHAD>VFD>LTHAD>DS>VD. Considering the color of MFOEU, the suitable drying methods were DS and VFD. Considering the color, active components, and economic benefits of MFOEU, MD was the suitable drying method. The results of this study are of a reference value for the determination of suitable methods for MFOEU processing in the producing areas.
Eucommiaceae/chemistry* ; Flowers/chemistry* ; Flavonoids/analysis* ; Rutin/analysis* ; Chlorogenic Acid/analysis*

To date, 205 compounds have been identified from different medicinal parts of Eucommia ulmoides, including lignans, iridoid terpenoids, phenols, flavonoids, terpenoids and steroids, polysaccharides and others. Their pharmacological effects include blood pressure-lowering, blood sugar-lowering, blood lipids-regulating, prevention of osteoporosis, anti-inflammation, liver protection, anti-cancer and so on. Their efficacy and mechanism from different parts are slightly different. In this paper, the chemical composition, pharmacological action and mechanism of different parts of E. ulmoides were systematically summarized, as well as its quality control and processing research, to provide theoretical basis for further rational development and utilization of E. ulmoides.
Eucommiaceae/chemistry* ; Flavonoids ; Iridoids ; Lignans ; Phenols ; Phytochemicals/pharmacology* ; Plants, Medicinal/chemistry* ; Polysaccharides ; Steroids ; Terpenes

Ten compounds were isolated from the leaf of Eucommia ulmoides by means of recrystallization and chromatographic techniques such as D-101 macroporous resin, MCI resin, ODS gel, Sephadex LH-20 and Rp-HPLC. Their structures were identified by NMR spectral analyses as kaempferide 3-O-beta-D-glucoside (1), quercetin-3-O-beta-D-glucoside (2), quercetin (3), quercetin-3-O-beta-D-xylosyl-(1-->2)-beta-D-galactoside (4), kaempferol-3-O-alpha-L-rhamnosyl-(1-->6)-beta-D-glucoside (5), (2S,3S)-taxifolin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside (6) ,4-hydroxy cinnamic acid (7), (+)-cycloolivil (8), pinoresinol beta-D-glucoside (9), squalene (10). Among them compounds 1,5-7,10 were isolated from the Eucommia genus for the first time. In the DPPH free radical scavenging assay, compound 2 exhibited significant activity (IC50 13.7 micromol x L(-1)), compared with vitamin C (IC50 59.9 micromol x L(-1)); compounds 1, 3 and 9 showed moderate activity (IC50 161,137, 214 micromol x L(-1)), compared with 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (IC50 236 micromol x L(-1)); compound 4 and 6 showed weak activity (IC50 264, 299 micromol x L(-1)).
Antioxidants ; chemistry ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Eucommiaceae ; chemistry ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Molecular Structure ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry

Nine triterpenes compounds were isolated from the male flowers of Eucommia ulmoides by recrystallization and chromatographic techniques over silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and RP-18 gel. Their chemical structures were identified on the basis of spectral analysis and as 3-oxo-12-en-ursane-28-O-α-L-arabinofuranosyl (1 --> 6) -β-D-glucopyranoside (1), 2α, 3β-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid(28 --> 1) -β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (2), ursolic acid (3), α-amyrin (4), uvaol (5), ursolic acid acetate (6), 3-O-acetate oleanoic acid (7), betulinic acid (8), and betulinol (9). Compound 1 was a new compound, and compounds 2, 4-7 were isolated from the Eucommiu genus for the first time. Cytotoxic activity was tested for all the compounds against K562 and HepG2 cells. The results showed that only compound 3, exhibited cytotoxic activity.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Eucommiaceae ; chemistry ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Triterpenes ; analysis ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo analyze and compare the cell growth and accumulation of flavonoids and chlorogenic acid in the callus and suspension cell of Eucommia ulmoides.

METHODThe callus induced from the leaf of E. ulmoides seedlings were suspended in liquid medium. The time courses of cell growth and yields of flavonoids and chlorogenic acid were studied.

RESULTThe highest contents of flavonoids and chlorogenic acid in the callus were 13.46, 1.712 mg x g(-1), respectively, while the contents of these two secondary metabolites were 16.63, 3.93 mg x g(-1) in suspension cell culture correspondingly.

CONCLUSIONComparing with callus, the suspension cell showed a short growth period and high growth rate with a remarkable high content of flavonoids and chlorogenic acid.

Cell Culture Techniques ; Cells, Cultured ; Chlorogenic Acid ; analysis ; metabolism ; Eucommiaceae ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Flavonoids ; analysis ; metabolism

In order to understand the pollution of heavy metals in Guizhou soil planting Eucommia ulmoides,the paper has determined the contents of five heavy metals respectively( Cu,Cd,Pb,Hg and As) by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The soil environmental quality by single factor pollution index was evaluated,nemerow integrated pollution index and potential ecological risk index,the correlation of 5 heavy metals was analyzed and the relationship between heavy medals content and p H value was discussed. The results showed that: ①The soils of LP,SB and ZA-2 had low heavy metals content,LP soil met the first national standard,and other soils met the second national standard; ②The soils of LP,ZA-1 and ZA-2 were all in a clean state,while HX and BZ-1 were in a light pollution state,and the pollution degree was Cu>Pb>As>Cd>Hg; ③The soil of BZ-2 was light warning( medium ecological risk),the soils of HX,BZ-1 and MT were early warning( low ecological risk),the main warning source was Cu and Pb,and the rest were no warning( no ecological risk); ④Cd and As were positively correlated with Pb and Hg,and Cd,Pb and As were positively correlated with p H. The research showed that the soils of LP,SB,ZA-1 and ZA-2 were clean and could be used for E. ulmoides to continue planting,the soils of HX,MT,BZ-1 and BZ-2 were polluted and should be treated in time by effective measures.
China ; Environmental Monitoring ; Eucommiaceae ; Metals, Heavy ; analysis ; Risk Assessment ; Soil ; chemistry ; Soil Pollutants ; analysis