中國黃芩 傳統中藥配方中的植物

Scientists have unravelled one of the secrets of a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine.

科學家解開了傳統中藥中一種植物的奧祕.

The Chinese skullcap - known as Huang-Qin - is traditionally used for fever, liver and lung problems.

中國黃芩傳統上用於治療發燒,肝病和肺病.

Scientists have discovered that the plant uses a special pathway to make chemicals with potential cancer-fighting properties. They say it is a step towards being able to scale up production to make new drugs.

科學家發現,這種植物用特殊途徑合成具有抗癌潛力的化學物質. 科學家表示, 這朝着規模化生產新藥邁進了一步.

Prof Cathie MArtin, of the John Innes Centre in Norwich, is lead researcher of the study, published in Science Advances. Working in collaboration with Chinese scientists, her team deduced how the plant, Scutellaria baicalensi, synthesises the chemicals, known as flavones.

諾維奇約翰英納斯中心的凱茜.馬丁教授, 是這項研究的首席研究員, 該研究發表在《科學進展》上. 她的團隊與中國科學家合作, 推斷出黃芩是如何合成黃酮這種化學物質的.

Flavones are found widely in the plant kingdom, giving some plants vivid blue flowers.

黃酮廣泛見於植物王國, 讓一些植物開出鮮豔的藍花.

Understanding the pathway should help us to produce these special flavones in large quantities, which will enable further research into their potential medicinal uses, said Prof Martin.

“理解黃酮的生成途徑, 有助於我們大量生產這些特殊物質, 有利於進一步探索它們潛在的藥用價值.”

Previous lab research suggests that flavones have anti-cancer properties, offering hope that they may one day lead to effective cancer treatments.

之前的實驗室研究表明,黃酮具有抗癌特性, 爲有朝一日或可用於有效的癌症治療提供了希望.

Commenting on the study, Dr Alan Worsley of Cancer Research UK, said: "This paper answers a very interesting biological question about how these plants are able to make particular molecules, but the study doesn't look at whether the molecules can be used to treat cancer.

英國癌症研究中心的沃斯利博士對該研究評論說: “這篇論文回答了這些植物如何能夠合成特定分子這個非常有趣的生物學問題, 但研究並沒有探討特定分子能否用於治療癌症.”

This herb is a member of the mint family and native to China. In traditional Chinese medicine, the root was used in combination with other plants to treat fever and other ailments.

黃酮屬於薄荷科,是中國本土植物. 傳統中藥中,這種根莖類植物和其它植物結合使用,治療發燒和其它病痛.

There is increasing scientific interest in ancient medicinal plants. In 2015, Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for her work on artemisinin, an antimalarial drug derived from the sweet wormwood plant, Artemisia annua.

對古老藥用植物的科學興趣正在與日俱增. 2015年, 屠呦呦因其在青蒿素方面的工作被授予諾貝爾醫學獎. 青嵩素是從青嵩中提取的抗瘧藥.