The Common Features and Mechanisms of Ginger Juice Processing Technology Based on the Composition and Gastrointestinal Effects of Chinese Herbs

Context: All Chinese herbal medicines should be processed before they are used in clinics offering Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Ginger juice is one of the process assistants and a widely-applied agent in processing many herbal medicines. Objective: In this study, the ginger juice was investigated with its processing mechanism according to its common processing function on herbal medicines, which included Rhizoma pinelliae (RP, the tuber of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.), officinal magnolia bark (OMB, the root bark of Coptis chinensis Franch.), and Rhizoma coptidis (RC, the rhizoma of Magnolia officinalis Rehd. et Wils). Materials and Methods: The composition, especially the essential oil, of the raw ingredients and ginger juiceprocessed products and their gastrointestinal effect on model rats with functional dyspepsia (FD) were compared, the relationship between the changes of composition and pharmaceutical effects was analysed. Results: The gastric residue rate of the rats in the drug-treated group was significantly lower than in the control group (P<0.05), while the intestinal propulsive rates were markedly higher (P<0.05). The motilin and gastrin level in serum of the drug-treated groups had significantly increased (P<0.05) compared with the control group. Compared with the raw product group, there was an apparent reduction in gastric residual rate for ginger juice processed Rhizoma Pinelliae (GJRP)and ginger juice processed Rhizoma Coptidis (GJRC) (P<0.05). The GJ processed products groups showed a common increase in the intestinal propulsive rate (P<0.05), the motilin level of GJRP and ginger juice processed officinal magnolia bark (GJOMB) groups was significantly increased (P<0.05) and gastrin levels of all gingerprocessed groups were significantly increased (P<0.05). Meanwhile, eight types of common components were found in ginger juice, ginger juice-processed RP, OMB, and RC, in which farnesene, nerolidol, dragosantol, and a-elemene, each with pharmacological activity showed a positive relationship with gastrointestinal function of processed drugs through Pearson’s correlation analysis. Discussion and conclusion: This work provided a better understanding of ginger juice processing mechanisms and a guide to research into the common processing features of processing assistants in Chinese herbal medicine.