川芎為常用之中藥材, 主要含有精油﹑有機酸﹑酚類﹑生物鹼及醣類等成
分, 藥理研究顯示其精油和有機酸部分具有鎮痙﹑鎮靜﹑降血壓及抗菌等
作用。本研究以菸鹼酸﹑四甲基砒啡﹑阿魏酸及從川芎中分離出來的丁基
苯鈦﹑芎窮鈦 A ﹑蒿本內酯﹑亞丁基苯鈦等精油成分為指標, 以高效液
相層析儀來分析比較市售藥材的品質, 並以川芎藥效成分含量的變化, 來
探討炮炙的科學意義。分析結果顯示, 市售藥材的藥效成分含量分別為:
菸鹼酸 0 - 0.05 mg/g﹑四甲基砒啡 0 - 0.04 mg/g﹑阿魏酸為 0.49 -
1.10 mg/g﹑丁基苯鈦0.14 - 0.62 mg/g﹑芎窮鈦 A 0.45 - 1.00 mg/g﹑
蒿本內酯4.00 - 8.55 mg/g﹑亞丁基苯鈦1.33 - 2.19 mg/g, 原則上川芎
以香味濃郁, 切片色白而形大者, 其藥效成分含量較高, 藥材內心部分含
量高於表皮部分, 塊狀川芎藥效成分含量又高於飲片。炮炙結果顯示, 適
當的炮炙處理, 皆能使藥效成分的萃取量增加, 各炮炙的最佳時間分別
為: 炒黃40分鐘﹑酒炒10分鐘﹑悶潤 3小時﹑酒蒸30分鐘。其中以酒炒並
以水萃取的增加效果最好, 可達10.7%。毛細電泳為近來新發展的分析方
法, 本研究應用此項分離技術, 嘗試分析川芎中的化學成分, 發現對菸鹼
酸﹑阿魏酸﹑對羥基安息香酸﹑咖啡酸﹑原兒茶酸及香莢蘭酸等有機酸等
有不錯的分離效果, 值得作近一步的研究探討。

Ligustici Rhizoma is a widely used Chinese herbal drug
which contains essential oils, organic acids, phenols,
alkloids and carbohydrates as its main components.
Pharmacological tests revealed that those essential oils
and organic acids had the functions of inhibiting cramped,
sedating, depress- ing the blood level and antifungaling. In
this study we used nicotinic acid, tetramethylpyrazine, ferulic
acid, butylphthalide, senkyunolide A , ligustilide and
butylidenephthalide as the reference standards to evaluate
the quality of commerical crude drugs by means of high-
performance liquid chromatography ( HPLC ). The scientific
significance of hebral processing were also investigated.
The analytical data showed that the contents of the
commerical crude drugs were as follows: nicotinic acid 0
- 0.05 mg/g, tetramethylpyrazine 0 -0.04 mg/g, ferulic acid
0.49 - 1.10 mg/g, butyl- phthalide 0.14 - 0.62 mg/g,
senkyunolide A 0.45 - 1.00 mg/g, ligustilide 4.00 - 8.55 mg/g,
butylidene- phthalide 1.33 - 2.19 mg/g. Basically the
contents of Ligustici Rhizoma were closely related to their
apperance. According to the results, it was found that the
contents of extractions were all increase after being
processed by different processing methods. Those methods
and their suitable processing times were as follows: fried
until became yellow in color - 40 minutes, fried with wine -
10 minutes, soaked with water - 3 hours, steamed with wine -
30 minutes . Among the above processing methods, that of fried
with wine could give excellent result. The organic acids
such as nicotinic acid , ferulic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic
acid, caffeic acid, protocatechuic acid, vanillic acid
etc. had also been subjected to capillary electrophoresis (
CE ) and a satisfactory separation was obtained too.
Nevertheless a further insight investigation was still
needed.
Ligustici Rhizoma is a widely used Chinese herbal drug