Quality Standards Improvement of Medicinal Materials and Cut Crude Drugs of Bitter Almond
Abstract:Objective:There are some problems in the standard of bitter almonds in the Pharmacopoeia of the People′s Republic of China (2015 edition),such as incomplete microscopic identification,lacking of the standard of moisture and unreasonable content limit standard of stir-fried bitter almonds. The object of this study was to establish a more comprehensive quality standard of bitter almonds through experiment. Methods:The bitter almonds was dissociated with 5% potassium hydroxide,the seed coat of bitter almonds was put on the glass slide with dilute glycerol,and the microscope was used to observe the exotestal cells. In this experiment both toluene method and drying method are used to determine the water content;The content of amygdalin was determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Results:Polygonal epidermal cells exist in bitter almonds;The moisture content of medicinal materials and cut crude drugs of bitter almond was measured by toluene method. The average moisture of 20 batches of bitter almonds was 3.6%,the scalded bitter almonds was 3.5%,and the stir-fried bitter almonds was 3.2%. The average content of amygdalin was 3.0% in 20 batches of commercially available scalded bitter almonds,and the stir-fried bitter almonds was 3.4%. Conclusion:It is suggested to revise the pharmacopoeia standard as follows:The exotestal cells of bitter almonds are round or polygonal;The moisture content of medicinal materials and cut crude drugs of bitter almond are determined by the fourth method of General Rule 0832. The moisture limit is set to be no more than 7.0% in bitter almonds and scalded bitter almonds,no more than 6.0% in stir-fried bitter almonds;The content of amygdalin in stir-fried bitter almonds should not be less than 2.4%.