Changes of Anthraquinone Glycosides and Detoxificatio Effect in Decoction Pieces of Stewed Polygoni Multiflori Radix

OBJECTIVE To reveal the processing characteristics of stewing method and to discuss the detoxification effect of decoction pieces of stewed Polygoni Multiflori Radix from the changes in anthraquinone glycosides. METHODS HPLC was used to study the fingerprint and content determination of Polygoni Multiflori Radix, stewed Polygoni Multiflori Radix slices, and Polygoni Multiflori Radix Praeparata slices, and SPSS 19.0 software was used to analyze the content determination results. At the same time, the LC-MS was used to analyze the changes of chemical composition of Polygoni Multiflori Radix before and after stewing. RESULTS It was found for the first time that four anthraquinone glycosides, emodin-8-O-β-D- glucoside, casino-8- O-β-D-glucoside, emodin-8-O-malonyl-glucopyranoside and physcion-8-O-β-D-glucoside, disappeared significantly after stewing Polygoni Multiflori Radix. Combined with the experimental data of Polygoni Multiflori Radix Praeparata, it was speculated that due to the short processing time of Polygoni Multiflori Radix Praeparata, combined anthraquinones was only partially hydrolyzed into free anthraquinones, but the long time of stewing breaks the glycosidic bond of anthraquinone glycosides, so the ratio of combined anthraquinones to total anthraquinones decreased from 89.4% to 51.9%, indicating a significant change in chemical composition. CONCLUSION The stewing of Polygoni Multiflori Radix results in the hydrolysis of bound anthraquinone to free anthraquinone, resulting in lower toxicity.