초록
From the ancient times, herbs, animals and minerals were used as natural medicine to cure human disease in diverse ways. One of the representative forms in oral intake is decoction. But medicinal decoction degenerates as time passes just as all foods do by the environmental factors, such as micro-organism, enzyme, light and the air. Nowadays, as medicinal decoctions are kept in bottles and retort pouch for longtime, some standard data for preservation is necessary. In order to measure the standard statistics for safe preservation, Youngsunjetongeum used to treat rheumatism, and gout 'were used. According to this experiment which measured pH, specific gravity, analgesic effect and anti-inflammatory effect, the results were as follows: 1. No remarkable change was found in pH and in the specific gravity of decoction. 2. As for the analgesic effect induced by acetic acid in mice, no remarkable decrease in its medicinal efficacy was found, until the 9th day, but it showed in its medicinal efficacy from the 11th day. 3. As for the resultant anti-inflammatory effect caused by vascular permeability, induced by carrageenin and acetic acid, no remarkable decrease in its medicinal efficacy was found until the 9th day, but showed decrease in its medicinal efficacy from 11th day. In conclusion, keeping the natural medicinal decoction more than 9 days should be avoided.
