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A Seasonal Change of Active Ingredients and Mineral Elements in Root of Astragalus membranaceus in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

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Abstract

Astragalus membranaceus is an important traditional Chinese herb whose roots have been used for medicinal purposes for more than 2000 years. Because of excessive exploitation, the wild resources are currently almost exhausted, and therefore, artificial planting of Astragalus membranaceus has been increasingly important. But to date, few studies have focused on the active ingredients and mineral element of Astragalus membranaceus in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

In this study, five density gradients (M1: 10 cm × 25 cm, M2: 15 cm × 25 cm, M3: 20 cm × 25 cm, M4: 25 cm × 25 cm and M5: 30 cm × 25 cm) were assessed to evaluate the effects of various planting densities on the mineral element and secondary metabolite content of Astragalus membranaceus roots in different months. It was found that the content of calycosin-7-O-β-D-glucoside and astragaloside IV reached its highest in October. Ononin content increased month by month, while formononetin content decreased during months. Calycosin content did not show significant changes during seasons. Taken together, these results suggest that the optimal planting density is 15 cm × 25 cm (D2) and the optimal harvest period is October. According to the results, the Cu content in all samples did not exceed the limit (20 mg/kg). Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that Na, P, K Al, Ba, Ca, Fe, Li, and Mn were selected as characteristic elements of Astragalus membranaceus. The results also showed a high correlation between elements and active ingredients. Ba and Co had extremely significant associations with astragaloside IV.

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Raw data are available upon request.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully appreciate Shoulan Bao for collecting the materials and Xiaoyan Jia for her assistance with the sample preparations for the experiments.

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Special Project of Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements of Qinghai Province (grant number 2017-SF-119), the “Thousand Talents Plan” Project of High-End Innovative Talents of Qinghai Province, the Cooperation Project of Lanzhou Branch of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Special Project of Development and Construction of Key Laboratory of Qinghai Province (grant number 2017-ZJ-Y10).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Medicine Research, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, China

    Lingling Wang, Feng Xiong, Lucun Yang, Yuanming Xiao & Guoying Zhou

  2. Qinghai Key Laboratory of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Biological Resources, Xining, 810008, China

    Lingling Wang, Feng Xiong, Lucun Yang, Yuanming Xiao & Guoying Zhou

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Lingling Wang, Feng Xiong & Yuanming Xiao

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  1. Lingling Wang
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Correspondence to Guoying Zhou.

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Wang, L., Xiong, F., Yang, L. et al. A Seasonal Change of Active Ingredients and Mineral Elements in Root of Astragalus membranaceus in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Biol Trace Elem Res 199, 3950–3959 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02486-0

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