The fruit of Schisandra chinensis, Omija, is a well-known traditional medicine used as an anti-tussive and anti-diarrhea agent, with various biological activities derived from the dibenzocyclooctadiene-type lignans. A high-pressure liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) method was used to determine seven lignans (schisandrol A and B, tigloylgomisin H, angeloylgomisin H, schisandrin A, B, and C) in the different plant parts and beverages of the fruit of S. chinensis grown in Korea. The contents of these lignans in the plant parts descended in the following order: seeds, flowers, leaves, pulp, and stems. The total lignan content in Omija beverages fermented with white sugar for 12 months increased by 2.6-fold. Omija was fermented for 12 months with white sugar, brown sugar, and oligosaccharide/white sugar (1:1, w/w). The total lignan content in Omija fermented with oligosaccharide/white sugar was approximately 1.2- and 1.7-fold higher than those fermented with white sugar and brown sugar, respectively. A drink prepared by immersion of the fruit in alcohol had a higher total lignan content than these fermented beverages. This is the first report documenting the quantitative changes in dibenzocyclooctadiene-type lignans over a fermentation period and the effects of the fermentable sugars on this eco-friendly fermentation process.

Reynoutria species are medicinal plants that belong to the family Polygonaceae and are widely distributed in eastern Asia, North America and Europe. Although the phylogeny and morphological and anatomical studies of some species in Korea have been previously reported, there are no discriminative anatomical and chemical data available. Therefore, anatomical characterization of the leaf, stem and root, and high performance liquid chromatography–diode array detector (HPLC–DAD) analyses were carried out to assess the differences in anatomical and chemical profiles among the Reynoutria plants in Korea, i.e., R. japonica, R. sachalinensis, R. forbesii and R. japonica for. elata. The anatomical evaluation showed discriminative characteristics, such as the shape of the stomata and the stomatal index of the lower leaf surface; the ratio of the adaxial/abaxial height, the size of the vascular bundles and the frequency of druse in the midrib, petiole, and stem; and the pericycle number in the root. For the HPLC analysis, ten compounds corresponding to each major peak were isolated from R. japonica roots and their structures were identified by comprehensive spectroscopic studies. Samples collected before the flowering season showed higher contents of these ten major compounds than those collected after the flowering season. The orthogonal projections to latent structures-discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA) with the inner morphological and HPLC quantification results, clearly discriminated these plants. These results provide anatomical parameters and HPLC profiling that can be used to distinguish the four Reynoutria plants, which supports quality control for their precise identification.

Ulmus species (Ulmaceae) are large deciduous trees distributed throughout Korea. Although their root and stem bark have been used to treat gastrointestinal diseases and wounds in folk medicine, commercial products are consumed without any standardization. Therefore, we examined anatomical and chemical differences among five Ulmus species in South Korea. Transverse sections of leaf, stem, and root barks were examined under a microscope to elucidate anatomical differences. Stem and root bark exhibited characteristic medullary ray and secretary canal size. Leaf surface, petiole, and midrib exhibited characteristic inner morphologies including stomatal size, parenchyma, and epidermal cell diameter, as well as ratio of vascular bundle thickness to diameter among the samples. Orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis of anatomical data efficiently differentiated the five species. To evaluate chemical differences among the five species, we quantified (-)-catechin, (-)-catechin-7-O-β-D-apiofuranoside, (-)-catechin-7-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside, (-)-catechin-7-O-β-D-xylopyranoside, (-)-catechin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, and (-)-catechin-5-O-β-D-apiofuranoside using high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode-array detector. (-)-Catechin-7-O-β-D-apiofuranoside content was the highest among all compounds in all species, and (-)-catechin-7-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside content was characteristically the highest in Ulmus parvifolia among the five species. Overall, the Ulmus species tested was able to be clearly distinguished on the basis of anatomy and chemical composition, which may be used as scientific criteria for appropriate identification and standard establishment for commercialization of these species

Woo Sung Park, Kyung Ah Koo, Hye-Jin Kim, Ji-Min Kwon, Dong-Min Kang, Hye Jin Chung, Shin Woo Lee, Ho-Su Kim, Sang-Soo Kwak, and Mi-Jeong Ahn. Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition 2021;50:765-73. https://doi.org/10.3746/jkfn.2021.50.8.765