[P004] Poster

1:00 PM - 1:50 PM JST(4:00 AM - 4:50 AM UTC)

[P02-202] Optimal Electrochemical Processing for Maximal Efficacy of Medicinal Herbal Systems toward Scientific Applications of TCM

○ShiZhen Hong¹, ChengYang Hsieh¹, PoWei Tsai², ChungChuan Hsueh¹, BorYann Chen¹ (1. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National I-Lan University, I-Lan 260, Taiwan (Taiwan), 2. Department of Food Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung (Taiwan))

Keywords:

Electrochemical Processing,Traditional Chinese Medicine,Value-Added Production,Circular Economy

Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM) have long used as forms of multi-component formulations for disease treatment. To scientific deciphering such medicinal efficacy, Shuanghuanglian (SHL) containing Forsythia suspensa (FS), Scutellaria baicalensis (SB), and Lonicera japonica (LJ) was selected as a model formula to treat inflammation, respiratory infections, and viral diseases. First screening adopted the DPPH radical scavenging assay to identify antioxidant activities of individual herbal components for disease treatment. FS exhibited the most promising antioxidant capability, apparently suggesting its electrochemical dominance to remediating characteristics of SHL. To maximize electron-mediating efficiency, cyclic voltammetry (CV) was applied as an operation strategy of electroactive therapeutic to have comparative analysis upon antioxidant activities before and after CV treatment. CV treatment significantly enhanced the antioxidant activity of SHL and its component herbs, with the most pronounced improvement observed in FS, as evidenced by a reduction in DPPH IC₅₀ from 0.37 to 0.22 mg/g (ca. 40.6% decrease). HPLC analysis exhibited that such improvement was due to significant decreases in forsythoside A (ca. 3187 to 1956 µg/g) and a marked increase in caffeic acid (ca. 65.20 to 133.6 µg/g) after CV treatment.CV treatment may trigger electrochemical transformation of bioactive compounds in FS (forsythoside A to caffeic acid), thereby enhancing its antioxidant activity and possibly disease-treating potential as well. That is, electrochemical characteristics and anti-inflammatory capabilities of SHL are primarily influenced by the nature of FS. To investigate the antiviral-related potential of SHL, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were employed, using power density (PD) as a functional evaluation indicator for redox-shuttling (ES) characteristics. In contrast to FS-dominated antioxidant activity, SB exhibited a more significant contribution to PD enhancement. This suggests that the reversible redox-mediating properties of SB may also play a crucial role in the antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects within SHL, potentially through bioenergy-steered mechanisms such as ROS modulation and viral protein inhibition. Regarding system optimization of herbal formulations, ternary mixture design also revealed the optimal domain taken place at binary compositions of ca. 75% SB and 25% FS, while LJ seemed to be electrochemical “inert”. This study concluded that a binary formulation may out compete with traditional ternary system via this screening. The outstanding combined synergistic effect was confirmed at SB:FS ratio of 75:25. To the best of our knowledge, this study provided a novel and scientific electrochemical screening upon optimal herbal formulations of TCM bearing with the most efficacious therapeutic potential.