Zuota is regarded as the king of Tibetan medicine. However, due to the confidentiality of this precious medicine, the scientific characterization of Zuota is very scarce, which limits the pharmacology and biosafety studies of Zuota. Herein, we collected four different Zuota samples from Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan and characterized them by multiple techniques. Our results showed that Zuota was mainly an inorganic mixture of HgS, sulfur, and graphite. Morphologically, Zuota samples were composed of nanoparticles, which further aggregated into microsized particles. Chemically, the majorities of Zuota were S and Hg (in the forms of HgS and pure sulfur). All samples contained pure sulfur with orthorhombic crystalline. Zuota from Qinghai province had different HgS crystalline, namely, hexagonal crystalline. The others were all face-centered cubic crystalline. Carbon in Zuota NPs was in the form of graphite. The implication to future studies of Zuota was discussed. 1. Introduction Tibetan medicine has a history of over 3800 years [1]. Known as the king of Tibetan medicine, Zuota is the transliteration of Tibetan language “Renqing Ouqu Zuozhu Qinmu.” Here, “Zuo” means refining, and “ta” means grey powder. Thus, Zuota means burning to powder. Zuota has been used as an essential and key component of Renqing series drugs in Tibetan medicine for 1200 years [2, 3]. Zuota cannot be used as medicine alone, but it shows magic effect when used as supplementary material to other medicines [4]. Based on Zuota, many drugs have been developed, such as Qi Shi Wei Zhen Zhu Wan, Er Shi Wu Wei Zhen Zhu Wan, Er Shi Wu Wei Shan Hu Wan, Er Shi Wu Wei Song Shi Wan, Er Shi Wu Wei Er Cha Wan, Renqing Chang Jue, Renqing Mang Jue, Zuo Zhu Da Xi, and Zhi Tuo Jie Bai Wan. These medicines are applied in treating digestive diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, hepatic and gall diseases, food poisoning, pa-disease, leprosy, and so on [5–10]. Zuota shows very good performance in treating diseases of skin, knuckle, marrow, and sclerotin [2, 3]. Zuota is also beneficial in replenishing blood, activating blood, and prolonging the life according to Tibetan medicine theory [2, 3, 11, 12]. The proposed effects of Zuota in these medicines are enhancing the pharmaceutical effects and reducing the toxicity [2, 3]. Recently, Zuota has been collected in the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage [13]. However, nearly nothing is known about Zuota from the modern scientific perspective, because Zuota is always treated as the top secret of Tibetan medicine. According to the
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