台灣市場中藥連翹之品質分析

A Quality Assessment of Forsythiae Fructus in the Taiwanese Market

中藥連翹的基原為木犀科（Oleaceae）連翹Forsythia suspense（Thunb.）Vahl 的乾燥果實。為常用中藥，具有清熱作用與對抗細菌感染所引起的發炎作用。本實驗收集台灣北、中、南部中醫院、中醫診所及中藥房的連翹藥材飲片共69 件樣品，利用性狀特徵、組織切片顯微鏡檢、水抽提物、稀醇抽提物、薄層層析、指紋圖譜分析、及定量等方法，進行台灣市場中藥連翹的品質分析。由樣品外觀特點可區分，69 個樣品中有6 件青翹和63 件老翹樣本。由切片顯微觀察，青翹（GF）和老翹（RF）有相似的組織結構，但青翹具有較肥厚的軟組織，切片的同時，青翹散發出較濃烈的氣味。青翹與老翹有相似的TLC 和HPLC 指紋圖譜；但比較其水提取物，稀醇提取物和主要成分（連翹酯苷A，連翹苷，松脂醇及牛蒡苷元）的含量，青翹含量遠高於老翹。比較台灣北、中、南部樣品，發現中部樣品具有較高含量的水提取物與稀醇提取物。以3 類工作場域做比較，來自中醫診所的樣品有較低的水提取物，及稀醇提取物含量。69 樣品都符合藥典各規範項目標準，但青翹與老翹的水提取物，稀醇提取物，及重要化學成分含量差異大。因此建議連翹飲片，分青翹與老翹二個分級使用，可增加臨床用藥安全。

Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is a commonly used complementary and alternative medicine for patients with chronic Forsythiae fructus, the dry fruits of Forsythia suspense (Thunb.) Vahl. (Oleaceae), is a common traditional Chinese medicine that is used as an antipyretic and an anti-inflammatory agent in the treatment of bacterial infection. A series of analyses, including differentiation of the appearance characteristics, histological examination, water extract, dilute alcohol extract, thin layer chromatography, HPLC fingerprint and quantitation, are conducted to assess the quality of forsythiae fructus. A total of 69 samples were collected from Chinese hospitals, Chinese medical clinics and Chinese herbal stores in northern, central and southern Taiwan. The appearance characteristics clearly differentiate 6 samples of green forsythiae fructus (GF) and 63 samples of ripe forsythiae fructus (RF) in this collection. GF and RF have a similar organ structure as shown by the photomicrography examination but the former’s soft cell is thicker and its smell is stronger. GF contains more water extract, dilute alcohol extract and key ingredients (forsythoside A, phillyrin, pinoresinol and arctigenin) than RF, but GF and RF have similar TLC and HPLC profiles. The results showed that samples from central Taiwan had higher amount of water extract and dilute alcohol extract than those from northern and southern Taiwan. For three workplaces in which the samples were collected, the samples from Chinese medical clinics showed lower amount of water extract and dilute alcohol extract than the samples from the other two workplaces. In conclusion, 69 samples are all normative for each item content, but GF and RF exhibit large differences in their amount of water extract and dilute alcohol extract and in their chemical content. Therefore, the classification of forsythia fructus into two grades, GF and RF, allows their safer clinical use.