Research Article
EvaluationofMarkerCompoundsandBiologicalActivityofIn
Vitro Regenerated and Commercial Rehmannia glutinosa
(Gaertn.)DC.RootsSubjectedtoSteamProcessing
Endang Rahmat ,
1,2
YuseongChung ,
1,2
HyeonHwaNam ,
2
A.YeongLee ,
2
JunHongPark ,
2
andYoungminKang
1,2
1
University of Science & Technology (UST), KIOM Campus, Korean Convergence Medicine Major,
Daejeon 34054, Republic of Korea
2
Herbal Medicine Resources Research Center, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, 111 Geonjae•ro, Naju•si,
Jeollanam•do 58245, Republic of Korea
Correspondence should be addressed to Youngmin Kang; ymkang@kiom.re.kr
Received 28 September 2022; Revised 17 November 2022; Accepted 19 November 2022; Published 12 December 2022
Academic Editor: Maria G. Miguel
Copyright © 2022 Endang Rahmat et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaertn.) DC., belonging to the family Scrophulariaceae, has been known since immemorial times as
a prominent oriental drug in East Asia that can treat various ailments, such as kidney disorders, anemia, and diabetes. In order to
be applied for medical purposes, R. glutinosa is commonly processed using steam to increase its efcacy and biological activity. Te
increasing demand for R. glutinosa in the traditional medicine industry encouraged many researchers to develop a fast, efcient,
and high•quality production system using biotechnological approaches. Tis study aimed to compare the chemical and biological
activities of in vitro regenerated R. glutinosa (PKR) and commercial R. glutinosa (PCR) samples subjected to steam processing. We
assessed the efects of steam processing and the diferences in R. glutinosa material on 5•Hydroxymethyl•2•furaldehyde (5•HMF)
content, total favonoid and phenolic content, antioxidant activity, nitric oxide (NO) levels, and anti•infammatory activity. PKR
samples showed a signifcantly higher content of 5•HMF (0.15%) as compared to PCR samples (0.05%). Compared to unprocessed
R. glutinosa (UPR) and PCR samples, PKR again showed the highest total phenolic and favonoid content of41.578mgGAE/gand
17.208 mg RUE/g, respectively. Meanwhile, both processed R. glutinosa samples (PKR and PCR) showed a signifcantly higher
DPPH antioxidant activity ((67.095+1.005)% and (61.579+0.907)%, respectively) than unprocessed R. glutinosa
((31.452+1.371)%). In addition, both PKR and PCR samples showed good anti•infammatory activity by showing similar efects
such as the inhibition of NO production and the suppression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Based on these results, PKR
fulflled the Chinese pharmacopeia standards, in terms of the amount of the marker compounds and showed a high level of
bioactivity. Terefore, these fndings are expected to be useful in verifying the efcacy of herbal medicines and the availability of
suitable materials for medicinal use.
1.Introduction
Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaertn.) DC. (Orobanchaceae) is
a highly important medicinal plant belonging to the family
Scrophulariaceae. It is considered a “top grade” herb in
traditional medicine in eastern countries such as Korea and
China. R. glutinosa is traditionally believed to nourish Yin
and tonify the kidneys, including the regulation of water
metabolism, reproduction and development, dominating
growth, storing essence, and regulation of the neuroendo•
crine system using the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
theory, showing that R. glutinosa contains various types of
active compounds and exhibits several pharmacological
benefts 1]. Tere are three types of R. glutinosa samples
used based on their processing methods as follows: fresh
R. glutinosa roots (Xian Dihuang), dried R. glutinosa roots
Hindawi
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Volume 2022, Article ID 1506703, 12 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/1506703