International Research in Chinese Medicine

Objective In order to explore a new method of the identification of authenticity of Chinese herbal pieces, and also, in order to promote the application of Scanning Electron Microscope EnergySpectrometer (SEM-EDS) in this area. Panacis Quinquefolii Radix, Glycyrrhizae Radix EtRhizoma, Astragali Radix, Maca and Paeoniae Radix Alba were selected as the experimental subjects. Method First of all, the above five kinds of Chinese herbal pieces were extracted by artificial means to prepare the fake medicine model pieces. Then SEM-EDS was used to compare and analyze the morphology and energy spectrum elements of the above five fake slices and crude ones. Result The results showed that there were significant differences in the microscopic morphology of the five kinds of Chinese herbal pieces in the mode of Secondary Electron (SED) :the starch, represented by ellipsoidal type, could be observed in different multiples of the crude drug slices, the slices of the fake medicine model showed more loose honeycomb, and the starch was almost or rarely observed; But in the energy spectrum element aspect, the fake slices compared with the crude ones, the main element composition did not change too much. Conclusion It can be seen that SEM-EDS can distinguish the true and fake Chinese herbal pieces in microscopic morphology, which has practical significance in the identification of genuine and false Chinese herbal pieces; due to the lack of specificity in the composition of energy spectrum elements,you dont have to do too much research any more.

Chinese herbal pieces; Identification of authenticity; Microscopic morphology; Secondary Electron; Spectral Element; SEM-EDS