Codonopsis radix: a review of resource utilisation, postharvest processing, quality assessment, and its polysaccharide composition

Front Pharmacol. 2024 Apr 30:15:1366556. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1366556. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Codonopsis radix is the dried root of C. pilosula (Franch.) Nannf., C. pilosula Nannf. var. modesta (Nannf.) L. T. Shen, or C. tangshen Oliv., constitutes a botanical medicine with a profound historical lineage. It encompasses an array of bioactive constituents, including polyacetylenes, phenylpropanoids, alkaloids, triterpenoids, and polysaccharides, conferring upon it substantial medicinal and edible values. Consequently, it has garnered widespread attention from numerous scholars. In recent years, driven by advancements in modern traditional Chinese medicine, considerable strides have been taken in exploring resources utilization, traditional processing, quality evaluation and polysaccharide research of Codonopsis radix. However, there is a lack of systematic and comprehensive reporting on these research results. This paper provides a summary of recent advances in Codonopsis research, identifies existing issues in Codonopsis studies, and offers insights into future research directions. The aim is to provide insights and literature support for forthcoming investigations into Codonopsis.

Keywords: Codonopsis radix; polysaccharides; quality evaluation; resource utilization; rubbing and sweating; sulfur fumigation.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by Research Program Sponsored by State Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Agricultural University (No. GSCS-2023-13), Gansu Agricultural University Public Recruitment Doctoral Research Initiation Fund Project (No. GAU-KYQD-2022-07), Gansu Provincial Youth Science and Technology Fund (No. 23JRRA1444), Gansu Provincial Department of Education: Young Doctoral Support Project (No. 2023-QB-125), Research on Agricultural Techniques for Mechanized Production of Typical Chinese Medicinal Materials in Northwest China (XBZYCJD2022-05), Lanzhou youth science and technology talent innovation project (No. 2023-QN-162), Science and Technology Department of Gansu Province, Key R&D Program (No. 21YF5NA070), Education Department of Gansu Province, Innovation Fund Project for Higher Education Institutions (No. 2021A-001), National Natural Science Foundation Project (No. 31960395), Longyuan youth innovation and entrepreneurship talent project (GSRC-2023-1-4).