Improved quality assessment of proprietary Chinese medicines based on multi-chemical class fingerprinting

Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Metabolites in Anisodus tanguticus (Maxim.) Pascher to Determine Geographical Origins and Network Pharmacology

Anisodus tanguticus (Maxim.) Pascher, has been used for the treatment of septic shock, analgesia, motion sickness, and anesthesia in traditional Tibetan medicine for 2,000 years. However, the chemical metabolites and geographical traceability and their network pharmacology are still unknown. A total of 71 samples of A. tanguticus were analyzed by Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography Q-Exactive Mass Spectrometer in combination with chemometrics developed for the discrimination of A. tanguticus from different geographical origins. Then, network pharmacology analysis was used to integrate the information of the differential metabolite network to explore the mechanism of pharmacological activity. In this study, 29 metabolites were identified, including tropane alkaloids, hydroxycinnamic acid amides and coumarins. Principal component analysis (PCA) explained 49.5% of the total variance, and orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) showed good discrimination (R2Y = 0.921 and Q2 = 0.839) for A. tanguticus samples. Nine differential metabolites accountable for such variations were identified through variable importance in the projection (VIP). Through network pharmacology, 19 components and 20 pathways were constructed and predicted for the pharmacological activity of A. tanguticus. These results confirmed that this method is accurate and effective for the geographic classification of A. tanguticus, and the integrated strategy of metabolomics and network pharmacology can explain well the "multicomponent--multitarget" mechanism of A. tanguticus.

Chromatographic, Chemometric and Antioxidant Assessment of the Equivalence of Granules and Herbal Materials of Angelicae sinensis Radix

Background: Granules are a popular way of administrating herbal decoctions. However, there are no standardised quality control methods for granules, with few studies comparing the granules to traditional herbal decoctions. This study developed a multi-analytical platform to compare the quality of granule products to herb/decoction pieces of Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Danggui). Methods: A validated ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detector (UPLC-PDA) method quantitatively compared the aqueous extracts. Hierarchical agglomerative clustering analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) clustered the samples according to three chemical compounds: ferulic acid, caffeic acid and Z-ligustilide. Ferric ion-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging capacity (DPPH) assessed the antioxidant activity of the samples. Results: HCA and PCA allocated the samples into two main groups: granule products and herb/decoction pieces. Greater differentiation between the samples was obtained with three chemical markers compared to using one marker. The herb/decoction pieces group showed comparatively higher extraction yields and significantly higher DPPH and FRAP (p < 0.05), which was positively correlated to caffeic acid and ferulic acid, respectively. Conclusions: The results confirm the need for the quality assessment of granule products using more than one chemical marker for widespread practitioner and consumer use.

Application of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine By-products as Dietary Feed Supplements and Antibiotic Replacements in Animal Production

BACKGROUND

Misuse of synthetic antibiotics in livestock leads to the transfer of antibiotic resistant pathogens into humans and deposits toxic residues in meat and milk. There is therefore an urgent need for safe and viable alternative approaches to improve the nutrition and wellbeing of farm animals. An alternative source that has been widely exploited is Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine (TCHM). These herbs contain several but less toxic bioactive compounds which are generally regarded as biodegradable. Recently, advances in the knowledge of the importance of TCHM have led to a rapid increase in its production and hence, increasing the amount of by-products generated. Such by-products have become a serious environmental challenge because producers regard them as industrial waste and discard them directly. This review summarizes scientific findings on the bioactive compounds in TCHM and TCHM by-products, discusses functional dietary patterns and outlines challenges that may hinder full utilization of TCHM by-products in animal production.

METHODS

Information for this review was obtained through scientific databases and websites such as Pubmed and Google scholar from 2004 to 2017 using experimental studies on bioactive compounds in TCHM and their effects in animal production.

RESULTS

Studies have shown that TCHM by-products contain high amounts of bioactive compounds which confer several nutritional and health benefits to animals and thus could be incorporated as feed additives.

CONCLUSION

The findings for this review indicate that TCHM by-products apart from being a good alternative for synthetic antibiotics could also minimize the current environmental challenges associated with its disposal.

Effects of supplemental levels of bazhen on growth performances, serum traits, immunity, meat quality and antioxidant activity of taiwan country chickens

One hundred and sixty Taiwan country chickens (d-old chicks) were randomly assigned into four groups with four replicates and equal sex. Basal diets were supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1 and 2% of Bazhen powder, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine complex. The study was conducted for 14 wks. Experimental results indicated that Bazhen supplement did not influence feed intake, body weight gain and feed:gain ratio. Compared with control group, the percentage of serum HDL (high-density lipoprotein) linearly increased (p<0.03) and that of VLDL+LDL (very low-density+low-density lipoprotein) linearly decreased (p<0.03) in Bazhen supplemented groups, that 2% Bazhen was significantly different with control group (p<0.05). Chickens fed diets containing 2% Bazhen displayed reduced (p<0.05) serum GOT (glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase) levels. The IgG, γ-globulin levels and PHA (phytohemagglutinin) skin challenge results in 1% Bazhan supplemented group were higher (p<0.05) than in the control group, the SRBC (sheep red blood cell) and ND (newcastle disease) titers in Bazhen supplemented groups were linear higher (p<0.05) than in the control group. The liver catalase activity and the capacity of scavenging DPPH (α-α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl) radical were linearly increased (p<0.03) in Bazhen supplemented groups, and the 1 and 2% groups were different from the control group (p<0.05). Liver TBARS (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances) levels in all Bazhen supplemented groups and total glutathione level in the 2% group were reduced (p<0.05) compared to the control group and displayed a linear response (p<0.05). The TBA (thiobarbituric acid) and pH value of the breast muscle after 24 h post-mortem in the Bazhen supplemented groups was linear lower (p<0.05) than in the control group. Results from this study demonstrated that Bazhen supplement in chicken had several beneficial effects, including increased SRBC and ND titers, HDL and IgG, γ-globulin levels, PHA skin challenge result, decreased VLDL+LDL and GOT levels, and displayed antioxidation effects in serum and carcass meat parameters.

Recent advances on HPLC/MS in medicinal plant analysis

With gaining popularity of herbal remedies worldwide, the need of assuring safety and efficacy of these products increases as well. By nature they are complex matrices, comprising a multitude of compounds, which are prone to variation due to environmental factors and manufacturing conditions. Furthermore, many traditional preparations compose of multiple herbs, so that only highly selective, sensitive and versatile analytical techniques will be suitable for quality control purposes. By hyphenating high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC-MS) these high demands are fulfilled, providing the user with a multitude of technical options and applications. This review intends to reflect the impact of LC-MS for medicinal plant analysis focusing on most relevant reports published within the last five years. Commenced by introductory remarks to the different MS approaches most commonly used (e.g. ion trap and time of flight mass analyzers, fragmentation and ionization modes), respective LC-MS applications on the analysis of natural products in medicinal plants, commercial products and biological samples are presented. Methodological aspects like stationary and mobile phase selection or MS settings are discussed, and advantages or limitations of the described techniques are highlighted.