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Agroforestry system, as the most promising substitute plantation approach, has been widely regarded as a prominent strategy for mitigating the conflicts between rapid growing population and limited arable land resources. This paper aims to screen the optimal planting pattern for <i>Gentiana rigescens</i> base on the content of gentiopicroside, providing the scientific basis for sustainable supply and application of this plant. Generally, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is effective to integrally monitor and reflect the whole constituents of natural materials. FTIR combined with chemometrics was used for distinguishing the <i>G. rigescens</i> from different compound planting models in this research. The result of partial least square discriminant analysis implied that planting year of <i>G. rigescens</i> had a greater impact on the content of gentiopicroside than that of <i>Camellia sinensis</i>. The gentiopicroside content in 1.5- or 2-year-old <i>G. rigescens</i> was higher. Wavelet denoising was effective for the classification. Samples which had higher contents of gentiopicroside were clustered together relatively, while those with lower contents of gentiopicroside were classified into the other large category. Our investigation revealed that <i>G. rigescens</i> can be successfully cultivated with <i>C. sinensis</i>, which met the requirement of the gentiopicroside content recommended by Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China. That 2-year-old <i>G. rigescens</i> grown with 12-year-old <i>C. sinensis</i> was the optimal compound planting pattern, according this study. The present study provided the optimal compound planting pattern of <i>G. rigescens</i>, which is helpful for improving land-use efficiency and economic returns.
Zuotais regarded as the king of Tibetan medicine. However, the major starting material ofZuotais mercury, which is one very toxic heavy metal. This has aroused serious doubts on the biosafety ofZuotacontaining drugs. In this study, we quantified the Hg contents in fourZuotasamples, monitored the release of Hg in simulated gastric/intestinal juice and evaluated their cytotoxicity to Caco-2 cells. Our results showed that the Hg contents inZuotasamples were in the range of 566–676 mg/g. Fortunately, the release of Hg fromZuotasamples was very low in simulated gastric juice, and much lower in simulated intestinal juice. Direct contact ofZuotawith Caco-2 cells led to dose-dependent cytotoxicity, including activity loss and membrane leakage. The toxicity was closely related to apoptosis, because the caspase 3/7 levels of Caco-2 cells increased after the exposure toZuota. Interestingly,Zuotasamples inhibited the oxidative stress at low concentrations, but the toxicity could be relived by antioxidants. The possible toxicity should be attributed to the cellular uptake ofZuotaparticulates. Beyond the cytotoxicity, significant differences amongZuotasamples from different institutions were observed, suggesting that the preparation process ofZuotahad meaningful influence of its biosafety. The implications to the safety and clinical applications ofZuotaare discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]