For more information:ali.ma@wecistanche.com

（Ningxia Vocational and Technical College， Yinchuan 750021， China）

Abstract: Objective: To describe the status and pharmacological effects of Cistanche medicinal resources and the value of their development. Methods: To access review and summarize the relevant literature. Results: There is a lack of Cistanche wild resources, and the artificial plants have achieved gratifying results. The chemical composition of Cistanche is more, its active ingredients, like benzene glycosides, polysaccharides, have many effects, such as invigorating kidney yang, supplementing essence and blood, relaxing bowel, improving immunity, anti-aging, and so on. Conclusion: Cistanche plants have better economic and ecological benefits and market development prospects.

Keywords: Cistanche； pharmacological effects； research progress

Chinese Library Classification Number: S567 Document Identification Code: A Article Number: 1006-4311 (2012) 03-0303-02

Click to cistanche side effects and Cistanche products

1.1 Resource distribution There are about 22 species of Cistanche in the world, distributed in the northern hemisphere Warm deserts, deserts, and other dry areas. In Inner Mongolia, which is mainly distributed in the northwestern region of my country In 5 provinces including ancient times, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang, and Qinghai, Inner Mongolia is the first among the authentic producing areas of Cistanche. Ningxia is one of the traditional producing areas of Cistanche. It is now generally believed that there are 4 varieties of Cistanche in my country [1], namely Cistanche deserticola Y.C. Ma. and Cistanche deserticola [C. tubulosa (Schrenk) R. Wight], Salted Cistanche [C. salsa (C.A. Mey.) G. Beck], C. sinensis G. Beck, C. salsa Var. albifora P.E. Yu et Z.C. Lou), among which C. Sinensis is a variant of Cistanche salsa.

At present, Cistanche is the main source plant of Cistanche, followed by desert cistanche and cistanche salina. White flower Cistanche has low distribution and low yield. It's hard to see. The 2010 edition of "Chinese Pharmacopoeia" included desert cistanche and cistanche tubulosa as authentic medicinal materials.

1.2 Resource protection and artificial planting Cistanche is a commonly used tonic Chinese medicine. The demand for cistanche medicinal materials in the domestic and foreign markets is increasing year by year, and the price is also rising. The purchase price per kilogram of dry products has risen from 8-10 yuan in the late 1980s to 300-400 yuan now.

In the early days of liberation, Cistanche can be seen everywhere in the Haloxylon ammodendron forests in our country. In recent years, due to excessive and indiscriminate digging, coupled with the difficulty of reproduction of parasitic plants, wild cistanche resources are on the verge of exhaustion, and the output declines sharply every year, increasing the contradiction between supply and demand between the shortage of cistanche resources and the large market demand. Investigations in recent years have shown that Cistanche is widely distributed in western my country, but the amount of wild resources is less than 1% of the past, and the annual output is less than 500 tons [2]. To protect and rationally use the resources of the Cistanche genus, and to inherit the culture of traditional Chinese medicine, the most effective way to solve this contradiction is to develop the standardized and large-scale planting base of the Cistanche.

The cultivation of Cistanche in my country began in the 1980s. In 1985, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and other places began to research the artificial cultivation technology of Cistanche, and some results have been achieved. Ningxia began to conduct research on the artificial planting technology of Cistanche in 1998 and explored efficient, intensive, and industrialized artificial planting technology of Cistanche on the sandy wasteland on the edge of the Tengger Desert. Nearly 3,000 mu of Cistanche has been successfully planted. After research and testing, the quality of artificially grown Cistanche is no different from that of wild Cistanche, and the quality meets the national pharmacopeia standard (2010 edition) [2].

1.3 Ecological benefits The host plant of Cistanche-Haloxylon ammodendron is an excellent sand-fixing afforestation tree species in semi-desert and desert areas. Large areas of pure forests are often formed in desert areas and have good wind-proof and sand-fixing effects. Nowadays, in Northwest my country, Haloxylon ammodendron is the first choice for ecological construction for protection, tending, and artificial planting. Artificial planting of Cistanche can not only restore the desert vegetation and make the sand-fixing host plant Haloxylon ammodendron a good wind-proof and sand-fixing barrier, but also improve the ecological environment and the living conditions of farmers and herdsmen in the sandy area and obtain significant ecological benefits.

Improve memory

2 Chemical composition and pharmacological effects

2.1 Chemical composition Cistanche contains many types of chemical substances.

In the early 1980s, Japanese scientists discovered substances named "life-nourishing factors" from Cistanche. In the late 1980s, domestic scholars conducted systematic studies on the chemical components of Cistanche. So far, 69 compounds have been isolated and identified from Cistanche genus plants, mainly including phenethanol glycosides, iridoids, lignans, alkaloids, polysaccharides, and other components. [3]

2.1.1 Phenylethanol glycosides Phenylethanol glycosides are a kind of polyphenol compound, which is the main active ingredient in Cistanche. It has a higher content in Cistanche and a lower content in Cistanche. Phenyl ethanol glycosides are active ingredients that invigorate kidney yang, improve immune function, and fight Alzheimer's disease. At present, 22 phenyl ethanol glycosides have been isolated, including 1 aminoglycoside, 14 glycoside and 7 triglycerides [3]. Japanese scholars [4] successively isolated echinacoside, cohodoside, 2'-acetyl cohodoside, and cistanche glycosides A, B, C, D, E from the salted Cistanche produced in Mongolia in my country. There are 10 kinds of, F, OsmanthusjdeB. After that, Chinese scholars separated echinacoside, cohodoside, echinacea, cistancheoside A, 2'-acetyl cohodoside from the Cistanche desert[5].

2.1.2 Iridoids and their glycosides Iridoids and their glycosides are one of the main chemical constituents of the Cistanche genus. At present, 2 iridoids have been isolated from the Cistanche genus, iridoids and their glycosides 10 glycosides [3]. Japanese researchers systematically analyzed the salinity Cistanche produced in Mongolia and obtained 10 compounds including 8-peracetic acid, 8-epidesoxyramenic acid, genomic acid, and cistanche. Luo Shangsu et al. analyzed the desert Cistanche and obtained 8-epigenomic acid glucoside from it, and Xu Wenhao equally divided 8-epigenomic acid.

2.1.3 Lignans and their glycosides So far, one lignan and five lignan glycosides have been isolated from Cistanche genus plants, of which two are neolignan glycosides.

2.1.4 Volatile components and other components The scholars of Ma Xizhong found that cistanche contains volatile components, which can be roughly divided into three categories: C16～C28 normal alkanes, ester compounds, oxygen-containing and containing Nitrogen compounds. The ester compounds are mainly composed of dibutyl phthalate, dibutyl sebacate, and dioctyl phthalate. The oxygen-containing and nitrogen-containing compounds are mainly composed of eugenol, followed by vanilla Aldehydes, isoeugenol, etc. In addition to the above volatile components, Cistanche also contains phenol glycosides, monoterpene glycosides, alkaloids, polysaccharides, glycosides, sterols, amino acids, and inorganic trace elements such as iron, manganese, zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, and iron The content of manganese, zinc, and copper is higher than that of general Chinese medicine. [6]

2.2 Pharmacological effects

2.2.1 Anti-aging effect Cistanche is a precious tonic traditional Chinese medicine, second only to ginseng in anti-aging and longevity formulas. Medical research has shown that the aging of the human body is closely related to factors such as lipid peroxidation and membrane structure damage caused by free radicals. Under normal circumstances, superoxide is mainly removed by SOD. However, as age increases, the body’s SOD activity decreases, and antioxidants decrease. Phenyl ethanol glycosides can significantly increase the body’s SOD activity and reduce the damage caused by free radicals to the body. This shows that phenethanol glycosides can enhance the body’s antioxidant capacity. For anti-aging, the polysaccharide contained in Cistanche is the main active ingredient to improve immune function.

2.2.2 Effects of nourishing kidney yang and nourishing essence and blood Cistanche has nourishing kidney yang and nourishing essence and blood. Phenyl ethanol glycosides have been proved to be the effective ingredients of Cistanche for nourishing the kidney and strengthening the yang. Cistanche can nourish the kidney for both men and women, and if taken for a long time, it can invigorate the kidney without injuring the yin, without symptoms such as irritation and dry mouth, and can calmly invigorate the kidney.

2.2.3 The effect of moisturizing and laxative Chinese medicine believes that Cistanche has a good effect on moisturizing and laxatives. The water decoction of Cistanche medicine can improve the peristalsis of the small intestine, inhibit the water absorption of the large intestine, and shorten the defecation time [7]. The galactitol in Cistanche can significantly shorten the laxative time, and it is the active ingredient for moisturizing the intestines and laxative [8].

2.2.4 Anti-fatigue effect Cistanche has obvious effects on strengthening physical strength and anti-fatigue for patients with yang deficiency. By observing the mice fed with Cistanche Decoction, it was found that the weight of the mice with yang deficiency, the number of autonomous activities increased, and the swimming time was prolonged. At the same time, the accumulation of blood lactic acid and urea acid after exercise was reduced, and the serum urea nitrogen content was significantly Decreased [9], these pharmacodynamic research results show that Cistanche has the effect of enhancing physical strength and anti-fatigue.

2.2.5 Regulation of neuroendocrine system effect Cistanche has a significant effect on the aging of the human neuroendocrine system-the hypothalamus, and can improve the nutrition, physical fitness, endurance, and cold resistance of patients with "Yang deficiency syndrome" symptoms, and for patients with Yang deficiency, It has obvious strong and therapeutic effects [10]. Chen Yaqiong et al. found that Cistanche can promote the increase of some cells in the pituitary of female rats, promote the secretion of ovarian progesterone, and enhance the expression of estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor in the gonadal axis, indicating that Cistanche can participate in the neuroendocrine regulation mechanism.

2.2.6 Protecting the liver Cistanche can reduce the activity of LDH5, increase the liver glycogen content of mice under load exercise, promote liver glycogen synthesis, protect the liver and promote physical recovery [11].

2.2.7 Enhance memory function Cistanche glycosides can improve learning and memory disorders caused by aluminum trichloride, increase SOD activity in brain tissue, reduce MDA content, increase brain weight coefficient, and protect mice from learning and memory disorders caused by aluminum trichloride Role [12]. The total glycosides of cistanche can also improve the learning and memory impairment of kidney-yang deficiency mice caused by hydrocortisone, and improve the level of memory impairment in mice [13].

2.2.8 Other effects In addition to the appeal function, Cistanche has a protective effect on ischemic myocardium, can lower blood lipids, resist atherosclerosis and resist thrombosis [14].

Anti-fatigue

3 Discussion and Outlook

Cistanche is a traditional and precious Chinese medicinal material in the arid area of northwest my country. It is listed as a national secondary protected plant and is included in the "International Wild Plant Protection List". It has extremely high medicinal value. It has a medicinal history in China for 2000 years. The most frequently used medications in the prescriptions for nourishing the kidney and strengthening yang in the past dynasties. In recent years, the artificial cultivation of Cistanche, the research of chemical composition, and pharmacological effects have achieved gratifying results.

Although the medicinal value of Cistanche is very high, it is currently limited to basic research, and the development and application of new drugs, health products, food, beverages, and other fields are still relatively lacking. Therefore, with the development of science and technology and the deepening of people’s understanding of Cistanche, it is necessary to carry out more extensive and deeper research based on its medicinal use in the future to expand the application of Cistanche in the above-mentioned fields, so that this precious resource has more considerable value. Development prospects, thereby promoting the further development of this traditional Chinese medicine in our country.

References:

[1]Tu Pengfei, He Yanping, Lou Zhiqin. Investigation and resource protection of Cistanche drug sources[J]. Chinese herbal medicine,1994, 25(4): 205-208.

[2] Editor-in-chief Xing Shirui, Ningxia Traditional Chinese Medicine Journal. 2006.6 Ningxia People’s Publishing House, Second Edition, Volume One, General Introduction: 106.

[3] Lei Li, Song Zhihong, Tu Pengfei. Research progress on the chemical constituents of the Cistanche genus [J]. Chinese Herbal Medicine, 2003, 34(5): 473-476.

[4] Hiromi Kobayashi, Hiroko Karasawa, Toshio Miyase, et a1. Studies on the Constituents Cistanehis Herba. Ⅲ. Isolation and Structures of new Phenylpropanoid Glycosides, Cistanosides A and B [J]. Chem Pharm Bull, 1984, 32(10): 3009-3014.

[5] Du Niansheng, Wang Hong, Yi Yanghua. Separation and identification of phenylethanoid glycosides in Cistanche desert[J]. Development and Research of Natural Products, 1993, 5(4):5.

[6] Chen Xiaodong, et al. Analysis of trace elements in Cistanche. Journal of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1994, 6(4): 31. [7] Tu Pengfei, Li Shuncheng, Li Zhixin, etc. Comparison of the efficacy of Cistanche as a laxative intestine[J].Natural products Research and Development, 1999, 11(1): 48-51.

[8] Zhang Baishun, Chen Shuanghou, Zhao Xuewen, et al. Dose-effect study of the laxative effect of Cistanche extract galactitol[J]. Chinese Journal of Information on Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2003, 10 (12): 28.

[9] Gong Mengjuan, Liu Xinmin, Wang Liwei. Cistanche on mice with yang deficiency