Gastrodia Rhizoma Extract

Gastrodia elata extract Uses and synthesis methods
Plant extracts
Gastrodia elata is a commonly used Chinese medicine. It was first recorded in "Shennong's Herbal Classic" and listed as a top grade. Its original name was "Red Arrow". Because its stem is like an arrow shaft and is red. There are flowers on the end, and it looks like an arrow with feathers from a distance, so it is called Red Arrow. The name of Gastrodia elata was first seen in "Leigong Paozhi Lun".
Gastrodia elata extract is a brown-yellow fine powdery substance extracted from the dried tubers of the orchid plant Gastrodia elata Blume. Gastrodia elata is a parasitic plant, and its host is Cordyceps sinensis.
[Origin] It is mainly produced in Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hubei, Shaanxi and other places. In addition, it is also produced in Jilin, Henan, Gansu and other places. It was originally wild, but now it is cultivated. Sexual reproduction can be carried out in Zhaotong, Yunnan. Those produced in Guizhou are authentic medicinal materials, commonly known as "Gui Tianma", and those produced in Sichuan and Yunnan are also good.
[Harvesting and processing] It is dug in winter and spring. Those produced in winter are called "Winter Ma", and those produced in spring are called "Spring Ma". After digging out, remove the aboveground stems, wash, wipe off the scales and rough skin on the links in time, then soak with clean water or alum water to prevent blackening, then steam thoroughly, take out and dry or bake. During the drying process, the gastrodia elata expands due to heat, and can be punctured and flattened with a bamboo needle to prevent cavitation.
[Processing] Take the original medicinal materials, remove impurities, separate the sizes, soak in warm water for 30 minutes, remove, moisten or steam until soft, cut into thin slices, and dry in the shade.
[Efficacy] Sweet taste; neutral in nature. It can stop wind and convulsions, calm the liver and suppress yang. It is used for headache, dizziness, numbness of limbs, infantile convulsions, epilepsy, convulsions, and tetanus. It is an important medicine for treating dizziness and headache.

Figure 1 shows the original plant of gastrodia elata.
Identification of properties
It is oval or long, slightly flat, wrinkled and slightly curved, 3 to 15 cm long, 1.5 to 6 cm wide, and 0.5 to 2 cm thick. The surface is yellowish white to light yellowish brown, with segments, dot-shaped marks or membranous scales, and sometimes brownish-brown mycelium, with many longitudinal wrinkles. There are reddish brown to dark brown dry buds (commonly known as "parrot beaks" or "red petals") at the top, or residual stem bases; the other end has a round umbilical scar after the mother hemp fell off, commonly known as "disc bottom" or "navel". It is hard and not easy to break. The cross section is relatively flat, horny, yellowish white to light brown. Those that are not steamed thoroughly have a little white residue in the middle, and sometimes cracks are visible. The smell is peculiar, and the taste is sweet and slightly spicy (Figure 2).

Figure 2 is a picture of Gastrodia elata medicinal material.
Those with a solid and heavy texture, a parrot beak, a bright cross section, and no hollow are "winter hemp", which is of good quality; those with a light and bubbly texture, residual stem bases, dark cross sections, and hollows are "spring hemp", which is of poor quality.

This information is edited and compiled by Yalin of ChemicalBook.
Microscopic identification
(1) Cross section
① The outermost layer has residual epidermal tissue, which is light brown and the cells are arranged tangentially.
② The outer side of the cortex is 4 to 5 layers of thick-walled cells, which are slightly extended tangentially, and sparse wall pores can be seen.
③ The vascular bundles in the pith are scattered, peritrichous or extrichous, with 2 to several vessels in each bundle, and are non-lignified.
④ The epidermal cells, cortex and mucous cells of the pith contain bundles of calcium oxalate raphes, and the thin-walled cells are filled with granular substances that can be stained by iodine solution into purple-brown, oblong or oval without polarization, and some are glued into blocks (Figure 3).
Figure 3 is a simplified cross section of the tuber of the hemp 1. Epidermis; 2. Cortex; 3. Vascular bundles; 4. Calcium oxalate raphes
(2) Powder: yellow-white to yellow-brown.
① The thick-walled cells are polygonal or oblong, with a diameter of 70 to 250 μm and obvious wall pores.
② Calcium oxalate needle crystals are scattered or bundled, 25 to 93 μm long.
③ Ring or spiral duct fragments, 10 to 25 μm in diameter.
④ Thin-walled cells are round or oval, 150 to 500 μm in diameter, containing mucus and oval or oblong granular substances without polarization, some of which are glued into blocks.
Main ingredients
Contains gastrodin (i.e. p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol-β-D-glucopyranoside, Gastrodin), p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, succinic acid, erythrotropin, diether, β-sitosterol, etc. Trace elements include nickel, lithium, rubidium, chromium, manganese, zinc, and copper.
Physical and chemical identification
(1) Fluorescence examination: The alcohol extract is placed under ultraviolet light (365 nm) to show emerald green fluorescence.
(2) Chemical characterization: ① Take 1g of powder, add 10ml of water, soak for 4 hours, shake at any time, and filter. Add 2-4 drops of iodine test solution to the filtrate, and it will turn purple-red to wine-red. ② Take 1g of powder, add 10ml of 45% ethanol, soak for 4 hours, shake at any time, and filter. Add 0.5ml of mercuric nitrate solution (take 1 part of mercury, add 1 part of fuming nitric acid to dissolve, and then add 2 parts of water to dilute) to the filtrate, heat it, the solution will turn rose-red, and a yellow precipitate will occur.
(3) Spectral identification: ① Take 0.2g of powder, add 10ml of ethanol, heat and reflux for 1 hour, and filter. Take 1ml of the filtrate, place it in a 10ml volumetric flask, add ethanol to the mark, shake well, and measure it according to the spectrophotometric method of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. There is maximum absorption or a shoulder peak at a wavelength of 270nm; take another 1ml of the filtrate, place it in a 25ml volumetric flask, add ethanol to dilute to the mark, shake well, and there is maximum absorption in the wavelength range of 219-224nm. ② Take 2mg of medicinal material powder and measure its infrared spectrum using the potassium bromide tablet method. The sample has a medium-strong broad absorption at 1700-1610cm-1, with a peak at 1645cm-1. Or take 50% ethanol extract of the medicinal material (10.0mg/2.0ml). The sample has an obvious, sharp absorption peak at 1510cm-1 and an obvious broad absorption peak at 1235cm-1.
(4) Thin layer chromatography: Take 70% alcohol extract of crude powder, spot it with gastrodin, carotene and para-hydroxybenzene methanol on silica gel G thin layer plate, develop it with chloroform-methanol (9:1), spray it with 10% phosphomolybdic acid ethanol solution, and after baking, three spots of purple, blue and red appear in the corresponding positions in sequence.
Pharmacological action
The dried tuber of Gastrodia elata, an orchidaceous plant, is used as the Chinese herbal medicine. The herbal medicine is flat in nature and sweet in taste. It has the following pharmacological actions:
(1) Sedation: Gastrodia elata decoction, gastrodin and its aglycone, vanillyl alcohol, etc. can reduce the spontaneous activity of mice, significantly prolong the sleep time of mice induced by sodium barbital or sodium cyclohexylbarbital, and can counteract the central nervous system excitatory effect caused by caffeine.
(2) Anticonvulsant: Gastrodia elata injection, gastrodin and its aglycone, vanillyl alcohol, etc. can significantly antagonize the convulsion caused by pentylenetetrazol, prolong the incubation period of convulsion, reduce the mortality rate or increase the half-convulsion dose. Gastrodia polysaccharide can resist convulsions caused by pentylenetetrazol or strychnine.
(3) Protect brain nerve cells: Gastrodin can reduce the mortality of mice under hypobaric hypoxia. Experiments on the culture of neonatal rat cerebral cortical nerve cells showed that Gastrodin can significantly reduce the effect of glutamate (excitatory amino acid), reduce the leakage of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and the mortality of nerve cells caused by glutamate.
(4) Anti-vertigo: Oral administration of Gastrodia alcohol extract can improve the anorexia symptoms of mice induced by rotation, improve the spatial discrimination ability of mice in the water maze and the percentage of mice reaching the safe zone, and can significantly counteract the decrease in the spontaneous activity of mice after rotation.
(5) Antihypertensive: Gastrodia and Gastrodin have the effect of lowering blood pressure in many animals. Intravenous injection of Gastrodia injection in rabbits reduced total peripheral resistance and blood pressure dropped rapidly, which lasted for more than 1 to 1.5 hours. Intraperitoneal injection or intraduodenal administration in rats, the blood pressure lowering effect lasted for more than 3 hours.
(6) Antiplatelet aggregation and antithrombotic effects: In vitro and in vivo experiments have shown that Gastrodia elata has an antiplatelet aggregation effect and can reduce the mortality of mice caused by acute pulmonary thrombosis induced by arachidonic acid. Gastrodia elata can dilate the diameter of the rat mesenteric artery and accelerate blood flow.
(7) Anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects: Gastrodia elata has an inhibitory effect on various inflammatory reactions, can reduce capillary permeability, and directly counteract the inflammatory reaction caused by 5-HT and prostaglandin E2. Gastrodia elata has an inhibitory effect on various experimental pains.
(8) Effects on the heart: Gastrodia elata has an anti-myocardial ischemic effect. Intravenous injection of Gastrodia elata hydroalcohol extract can counteract myocardial ischemia caused by posterior pituitary hormone in rats. Intravenous injection of Gastrodia elata injection can reduce the pathological changes in the electrocardiogram after ligation of the left ventricular branch of the coronary artery in rabbits, reduce serum malondialdehyde levels, and reduce the area of ​​myocardial infarction.
(9) Improving memory and delaying aging: Gastrodia elata has the effect of improving learning and memory functions in aging rats. Gastrodia extract can significantly improve the memory acquisition, consolidation and re-emergence disorders of mice caused by scopolamine, sodium nitrite and ethanol. Gastrodin and its aglycones are the main active ingredients for improving memory.
(10) Enhance immune function: Gastrodia polysaccharide can increase the body's nonspecific immunity and specific immune function, and can also promote the production of interferon induced by viruses.
Storage
It should be placed in a ventilated and dry place to prevent mold and moth. Long storage time or excessive heating will reduce the content of gastrodin.
Contraindications
Pay attention to patients with spleen deficiency, loose stools and clear urine.