Pueraria lobata (Radix puerariae) is the tuberous root of the perennial deciduous vine Pueraria mirifica or Pueraria vine. Pueraria lobata (Willd.) O－hwi] and Pueraria lobata (P. thomsonii Benth.) are the most representative two types of Kudzu Vine Root，which have both medicinal and edible properties due to their isoflavones and starch.
Pueraria thomsonii Benth. is mainly distributed in Guangdong and Guangxi Province. Pueraria thomsonii has a high starch content, so it is mainly used for the production of arrowroot powder in the food industry.
After the kudzu powder is processed, a large amount of kudzu root dregs will be produced. The kudzu root dregs are usually landfilled or incinerated as waste, and sometimes used as cultivation materials for flower plants and edible fungi. The use value is very low and it is easy to cause environmental pollution.
The processing of kudzu powder is mainly to extract the starch of kudzu root, and the loss of isoflavones is very small, so kudzu root residue usually contains a large amount of isoflavones. The main component of kudzu isoflavones is puerarin, which is the 8-C glucoside of daidzein, which has a wide range of pharmacological effects, such as relaxing blood vessels, protecting the heart and nerves, anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, pain relief, promoting bone formation, Improving cellular immunity, reducing insulin resistance, etc., has been clinically used in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes and its complications, osteonecrosis, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, endometriosis and cancer.
The conventional method of extracting puerarin is alcohol extraction. Because the crystalline structure composed of cellulose and hemicellulose in the cell wall of Pueraria root can hinder the effective dissolution of puerarin, although the alcohol extraction method is simple and easy, the extraction rate of puerarin is low, and it is currently limited to laboratory research.
In order to destroy the fibrous structure of the cell wall and make the puerarin easy to dissolve, first add cellulase for hydrolysis, and then extract the puerarin, which can significantly increase the yield of the product. However, the price of cellulase is relatively high at present, so the production cost of extracting puerarin by enzymatic method is relatively high, and it is difficult to realize large-scale industrial production.
HerboMate's technicians tried to efficiently prepare puerarin by solid-state fermentation of kudzu root dregs with Aspergillus niger strain. Through the enzymatic hydrolysis of the plant cell wall by the microorganism's own enzyme system, the cell permeability is enhanced, thereby increasing the extraction rate of puerarin.
The solid-state fermentation of pueraria slag with Aspergillus niger produced xylanase and CMC enzymes that could degrade the hemicellulose and cellulose in the cell wall of pueraria, destroying the fiber structure of the cell wall, increasing the permeability of the cell wall, and making puerarin easy to dissolve.
