Halenia elliptica D.Don (Downloaded from the Internet)

The Research Group of Chemical Components of Medicine of the Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources of the CAS has been carrying out research on orally taken Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat chronic hepatitis,acute cholecystitis and other hepato-biliary diseases for years. Recently, the plant medicine to treat chronic hepatitis developed the group has obtained national invention patent of China. (Patent title: Total xanthone dropping pills made of Halenia (H.) elliptica D.Don and their preparation method; ZL 200710307719.X)

Using H. elliptica D.Don as the starting materials, the group has obtained the total xanthone active component with several xanthone glycosides (account for 80-84% of the weight of the total xanthone) and xanthone aglycone compound as major components through modern extraction technique. Then the total xanthone active component was uniformly distributed on polyethylene glycol (PEG) through solid dispersion technique to form dropping pills. As total xanthone active component was evenly dispersed on the crystal lattice of PEG in the form of molecule, the effective area of the drug molecule was significantly increased. Thus, the dropping pills can dissolve quickly and be absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract after taken by patients. The weight of the dropping pill is 24-34mg per one. And the active ingredient, namely total xanthone, weighs 5.7-9mg.

Compared with the traditional preparation method of orally taken medicine made of Swertia mussotii Franch, the pollution-free technique enjoys the following advantages, high evenness, bioavailability and efficiency, instant effect, clear and definite effective ingredient with high content, low cost, etc. The technique is significant for enhancing the research on Swertia mussotii Franch medicine.

Background information:

H. elliptica D.Don belongs to the Gentianaceae family and Halenia genre. It is one kind of Swertia mussotii Franch. It tastes bitter and puckery. It is mainly found in Tibet, Qinghai, Yunnan, Gansu provinces of China. The main chemical components of H. elliptica D.Don are natural products of triterpenes, xanthone and flavonoids, among which xanthone and xanthone glycoside are the main pharmacological components to protect liver, lowering transaminase and treat hepatitis. In recent years, with H. elliptica D. Don as the starting materials, several new drugs to treat chronic hepatitis have been developed.