楊寧蓀 中央研究院
中草藥產業發展已成為我們政府近年來推動的重要性生技產業發展重點項目，其他東亞國家，如韓國、日本、中國大陸等地亦是非常重視1。然而，目前台灣大多數中草藥藥材皆由大陸方面輸入。在品管不易掌握情況下，中草藥品質的不穩定，已成為草藥研究或生技產業相關應用及產品發展上的一大考驗，甚至是瓶頸之困難。因此，為了減少藥源的依賴性及尋找適合台灣種植之藥材，台灣本土中草藥之應用與開發已成為政府推動的研究重點。台灣本土產中草藥常被宣稱具有抗發炎或可調節免疫的療效，且與傳統之中草藥相類似的療效，但其確實”療效”卻常缺乏先進之生物學/生技學之實證支持，甚至仍被西方醫學研究者評論為”經驗論”，且常被人們所誇大。實際上，目前大多仍無現代科學上、客觀、直接及較系統性的實證醫學來加以驗證。此外，中草藥研究常也面臨草藥種類紛雜、名稱混淆且經過加工炮製後導致有不易辨別種類等科技問題，致使中草藥的「種源」及「品質」往往是中草藥研究，發展及應用中經常且容易被忽視的一環。因此，系統化收集先進生物技術規範的特殊中草藥資料，進行基原鑑定，並與中醫藥專家交叉比對，以逐步確認特殊中草藥的品種、藥物活性成分及相對應之“生物活性”，進而建立中草藥的良好農業操作之生產標準流程及規範，是未來中草藥研發工作急迫且重要的一環。本計畫主旨即在此策略上，以一系統化研究平台，包括標的藥用植物之基原鑑定、化學指紋圖譜分析及指標成分分析，並以具體細胞學/分生學的生物活性（bio-activity）測試平台及動物實驗模式，以確定台灣本土常用之藥用植物之物種品系、化學指紋圖譜、活性指標成分並利用實證醫學如動物、細胞模型來驗證其活性。期望藉由本計畫之研究，本研究團隊不僅可提供科學上的相關佐證，幫助民眾之食用安全，更希望此研究成果能對於發展台灣本土中草藥產業帶來助益，將研究成果推向國際化，進而提升台灣本土中草藥市場規模及國際市場的價值。
關鍵詞：台灣本土中草藥、基原鑑定、 活性指標成分分析、實證醫學驗證
Develop Taiwan’s indigenously grown medicinal plants that confer potent anti-viral or/ and anti-tumor bio-activities, and expand to biotechnology applications
Ning-Sun Yang Academia Sinica
Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) industry has become one of the key biotech industries for promoting knowledge-based health care/biomedical RdD in Taiwan. However, most of the TCM materials in Taiwan are currently imported from Mainland China. The instability,at the plant cultivar/ species and bio-processing in their qualities, is a major concern and even a problem for future systematic and technological development of TCM in Taiwan. And this is not a small problem, as in East Asian Countries and even globally, TCM is receiving high attention at the international academic, scientific and medical communities1. For reducing the dependance of using TCM re-sources from China only, development and cultivation of Taiwan’s indigenously grown medicinal plants (TIGMPs) are becoming one of government-driven research priorities. TIGMPs are produced and aimed for health care use and claimed to confer specific TCM efficacies or bio-acfinies on anti-inflammation, health promotion or immuno-modulation. However, modern scientific and experimental medicine evidences to support their efficacies are very limited. In addition, authentication of TIGMPs with a solid and standardized linkage of specific bio-activities to the correspondent authentic TIGMP plants is limited, and unfortunately often became a neglected issue for the safe use for public health and for TIGMP research and development. The objective of this study is therefor aimed at building a biotechnology platform sustainable system for verification of the authenticity of the germplasms and bio-activities/ efficacy of a group of specialty medicinal herbs that can effectively be cultivated in Taiwan. This is to be accomplished by using a combinational approach of morphological/anatomical analyses, followed by molecular maker (eg., specific DNA sequence) authentication, and specific, advanced bio-activity assays. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and LC/MS profiling of secondary metabolites in test plants will also be analyzed to establish the relationship among their specific phytochemical marker components, “the efficacy” and bio-activity of test herbal cultivars/species. Together, we believe that the systematic platform that we plan to develop in the present study will provide us with a useful and powerful approach for future development of the biotechnology for TIGMPs in Taiwan. This strategy may also help us to establish and negociate with the Chinese Mainland government for fair-trade bi-lateral co- development of TCM for the Chinese (華人) population world wide.
