Study on the Property Change of Processed Rhizoma Coptidis Based on 5-HT Level and Brain Tissues Morphology of Rats

All Chinese medicinal substances have a special property (cold, hot, warm or cool) according to the theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Processing of Chinese Materia Medica ( pao zhi ) is always applied to modify the property according to clinical needs in TCM. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the processing effects on the property of Rhizoma Coptidis (RC). The wine-processed RC (WPRC, with less cold property in TCM) and bile-processed RC (BPRC, with colder property in TCM) were prepared, the level of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) of rats was determined by fluorescence spectrophotometry and the morphology of rats’ brain tissue was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Compared to crude RC treated group, the distribution of 5-HT-immunopositive neurons and cell staining in the brainstem raphe nuclei were remarkably denser and deeper in BPRC treated group, while the distribution of 5-HT-immunopositive neurons was sparse and the cell staining was lighter in WPRC group. The work provided a meaningful way in the research of processing effect on properties of Chinese medicinal substances.

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Transnational Travels of the Caterpillar Fungus in the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries

Asian Medicine ◽

10.1163/15734218-12341387 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (1-2) ◽

pp. 7-55

Author(s):

Di Lu

Keyword(s):

Medical Knowledge ◽

Natural Order ◽

Chinese Society ◽

Medicinal Substance ◽

Chinese Materia Medica ◽

Materia Medica ◽

Natural Properties ◽

Species Transformation ◽

Medicinal Substances ◽

Caterpillar Fungus

AbstractThe caterpillar fungus is representative of Chinese medicinal substances that are of Tibetan origin. From the early eighteenth century, due to people’s curiosity about exotic natural objects and their pursuit of new effective medicinal substances, the caterpillar fungus began to spread to Chinese society and even the rest of the world. Through intricate transnational networks of people, societies, and institutions, its specimens first arrived in France and Japan in the 1720s, Britain in about 1831, Russia in 1851, and America in 1891. The caterpillar fungus initiated European research on fungal parasitism in animals, and created new positions in the European natural order. European taxonomic identifications of the caterpillar fungus interacted with the European materia medica enterprise. Meanwhile, new European perceptions about its natural properties came to dominate Sino-Tibetan understandings of its properties and the nature of its cross-species transformation; but some Chinese medical knowledge about the caterpillar fungus was actively gathered in Europe due to its value as a medicinal substance. The tensions and negotiations surrounding the caterpillar fungus before the end of the nineteenth century can be seen as a prelude to the reconstruction of Chinese materia medica in the first half of the twentiethcentury.

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