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Background : Angelica gigas Nakai (AGN) is a perennial plant found in East Asian countries and an crucial medicinal herb especially in Korea. It contains several chemicals like pyranocoumarins, which are major active components including decursin (D) and decursinol angelate (DA), essential oils and polyacetylenes. This study was carried out to determine the change in active components depending on the root diameter of AGN.
Methods and Results : Several processing steps are involved to use AGN roots as medicine. The dried AGN roots are divided into body (B), thick root (TkR), medium root (MR) and thin root (TnR) according to their diameter before cutting into medicine. Among them, B and TkR are mainly used as medicine. The mean diameter of dried each root part (B, TkR, MR, TnR) were measured as 51.95, 7.05, 2.88, and 1.57 ㎜, respectively. The water content of each root part was slightly reduced depending on the size of the diameter (higher in B). In addition, the two active components, D and DA, were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. The change of both D and DA content showed a similar tendency. Both D and DA content were increased as the root diameter decreased (higher in TnR).
Conclusion : This study showed that the thinner the root diameter, the higher the D and DA content in AGN roots, suggesting that the thinner root parts of AGN could be used as potential materials.
