台灣特有種蒲公英保肝飲品之開發與其安全性及功能性評估
溫曉薇
國立中興大學食品暨應用生物科技學系
近年來，國人生活飲食習慣改變，罹患肝臟疾病人口居高不下，根據衛生署民國97年統計因罹患肝臟疾病而死亡的人數有4,917人，因此預防或治療肝臟疾病刻不容緩。因化學合成藥劑對生物體具副作用，故研究天然中草藥預防或治療肝病日益增多，且自古便有記載肝病治療的方劑，深具開發潛力。本計畫選擇台灣蒲公英作為研究題材，台灣蒲公英為台灣所特有之藥材，生長於濱海地帶，可食用亦可藥用，具清熱、解毒等功效，因此將以台灣蒲公英為主，加入其他藥材製成保肝飲品。計畫將劃分為兩年進行，第一年將找尋台灣蒲公英保肝飲品製程之條件，包含複方配比、糖酸比、均質條件、殺菌條件等條件，並進行安全性試驗，包括致突變性、急毒性試驗和慢性毒性試驗。而在第二年的研究中，將第一年所製備出的台灣蒲公英保肝飲品，進行(1)抗氧化成分含量、抗氧化能力與安定性評估；(2)保肝功效評估，包括組織切片、血清生化值、抗氧化酵素；(3)抗發炎因子分析，如NO含量、MPO活性、iNOS及COX-2蛋白質表現。藉由此兩年計畫，完成台灣蒲公英保肝飲品製程最適化，以製備出為大眾所接受的保肝飲品，並確定其安定性、安全性與保肝功效，以提高台灣特有種蒲公英的經濟價值。
關鍵字：台灣蒲公英、保肝飲品、安定性、安全性、機能性
Development of a hepatoprotective beverage from Taraxacum formosanum with the evaluations of its safety and functionality
Hsiao-Wei Wen
Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, National Chung-Hsing University
Recently due to the changes of dietary habits, the population having hepatic diseases is extremely high. According to Department of Health, Taiwan, in 2008, 4,917 people die because of liver disease. Thus, it is very important to find an effective method to prevent or cure hepatic disease. Since synthetic medicines may have side effects to human health, the researches about natural herbs or Chinese medicines on their hepatoprotective effects are getting popular. Moreover, in traditional medical books, there are already some prescriptions specific for treating liver diseases. Taraxacum formosanum Kitamura is an herbaceous plant and mainly distributed in north Taichung in Taiwan. It has been used as a folk medicine to treat lactation and liver disease. Therefore, the objective of this 2-year research project is to utilize Taraxacum formosanum Kitamura to manufacture a hepatoprotective beverage. In the first year, we will focus on optimizing the processing of this hepatoprotective beverage, including the recipes of ingredients, the sugar to acid ratios, homogenization conditions, and sterilization conditions, as well as the safety of this beverage by the mutagenicity test and the acute oral toxicity. In the second year, we will work on evaluating (1) the chemical properties (the amounts of antioxidant components and antioxidant capacities) and stabilities, (2) the hepatoprotective effect, through tissue section images, serum biochemical values, and antioxidant enzyme activities, and (3) anti-inflammatory effects, by serum NO value, MPO activity, and protein expression levels of COX-2 and iNOS in hepatic tissues. Thus, through this study, a hepatoprotective beverage based on using Taraxacum formosanum Kitamura will be developed with evaluations of its safety, stability, and in-vivo functionalities.
關鍵字：Taraxacum formosanum, hepatoprotective beverage, stability, safety, functionality
