Angelicae sinensis radix is commonly used in Chinese medicine and is also widely used as a spice and condiment in many countries. Due to the different geographical sources and processing methods, the contents of chemical components are different and affect the quality of Angelica sinensis radix. A simple and efficient method was established to comprehensively evaluate the quality of Angelica sinensis radix by combining HPLC fingerprint and single-standard multi-component quantitative analysis. With ferulic acid as a single marker, the contents of eight main active ingredients, including ferulic acid, senkyunolide I, senkyunolide H, coniferyl ferulate, E -ligustilide, E -butylidenephthalide, Z -ligustilide, and Z- butylidenephthalide, were simultaneously determined in 30 min by reliable relative correction factor. The overall chemical profiles of Angelica sinensis radix were compared by fingerprint similarity evaluation, the specific content level of each component was compared by simultaneous content determination of multiple components of a single standard, and the specific different components of Angelica sinensis radix before and after processing were analyzed by chemometrics. The established method was successfully applied to the quality evaluation of 44 batches of Angelica sinensis radix from 4 different origins and 45 batches of Angelica sinensis radix with different processing methods. This study proposed a simple, rapid, low-cost, and reliable quality comprehensive evaluation method for ASR from different origins and processing methods, which may be readily transferred and applied to other industries.

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are important cellular sources of transplantation therapies for Parkinson’s disease. This study aimed to determine the effects of extracts of radix astragali on the proliferation and differentiation into dopamine (DA) neurons in NSCs. NSCs were dealt with astragaloside IV (ASI), astragalus polysaccharide (APS), and astraisoflavan (ASF), the main active ingredients of radix astragali. First, the results from cell-count kit-8 (CCK-8) assay showed that ASI, ASF, and APS had positive effects on the proliferation of NSCs. Next, we also confirmed the effects of ASI, APS, and ASF on BrdU and nestin by immunocytochemistry. Moreover, results from quantitative RT-PCR showed ASI, APS, and ASF could promote the expressions of tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine transporter mRNA, which are specifically expressed in DA neurons. Simultaneously, sonic hedgehog (Shh), orphan nuclear hormone 1 (Nurr1), and pituitary homeobox 3 (Ptx3) are considered to motivate the formation of DA neurons. Our result showed ASI, APS, and ASF can also promote the expressions of Shh, Nurr1, and Ptx3 mRNAs. In conclusion, our study verifies that the active ingredients of radix astragali can promote the proliferation of NSCs and induce NSC differentiation toward DA neurons in vitro. These phenomena may occur through upregulation of Shh, Nurr1, and Ptx3 in the process of drug treatment.