A simple semi-preparative reversed-phase HPLC/PDA method for separation and quantification of glycyrrhizin in nine samples of Glycyrrhiza glabra root collected from different geographical origins

Simultaneous rapid detection of glycyrrhizin and sennoside A in Daiokanzoto samples by lateral flow immunoassay

INTRODUCTION

Glycyrrhizin (GLY) and sennoside A (SA) are characteristic bioactive marker compounds of the Kampo medicine Daiokanzoto. Their accurate detection in blends of Rhei rhizoma and Glycyrrhizae radix of several species (4:1 or 4:2) is essential for quality control and to ensure therapeutic efficacy. A rapid, efficient assay can significantly facilitate their detection.

OBJECTIVE

To establish a rapid qualitative assay for GLY and SA detection, a lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) was developed using specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) nanoparticles.

METHODOLOGY

This assay harnesses the competitive binding of mAb nanoparticles to the immobilized analytes on test strips and free analytes in the samples. Two conjugates for detecting GLY and SA, GLY-bovine serum albumin and SA-human serum albumin, were separately immobilized on the test zones of LFA strips. The detection mechanism is reliant on the visual detection of color changes in the test zones.

RESULTS

When GLY and SA were present in samples, they contended with the immobilized conjugates on the strip to bind with the mAb nanoparticles and produced distinct color patterns in the test zones. The limits of detection of the assay for GLY and SA were both 3.13 μg/mL. The capability of the LFA was substantiated using plant samples and Daiokanzoto, and its alignment with indirect competitive ELISA results was confirmed.

CONCLUSION

The introduced LFA is a groundbreaking procedure that offers a rapid, straightforward, and sensitive method for simultaneously detecting GLY and SA in Daiokanzoto samples. It is instrumental in ensuring product quality.

Analytical method development and validation for simultaneous estimation of monoammonium glycyrrhizinate and sennoside-B in polyherbal laxative tablet using RP-HPLC

Background

Standardization of polyherbal medicine though being the need of the hour is a toilsome task. Among the various methods employed for quality control and standardization of polyherbal medicine, phytochemical profiling is of utmost importance as it signifies the quality as well as efficacy of the medicine. The work was aimed to develop and validate a simple, quick, and accurate RP-HPLC technique for simultaneous assessment of monoammonium glycyrrhizinate and sennoside-B in a polyherbal laxative tablet. The phytomarkers were effectively quantified by RP-HPLC system on C18 analytical column using gradient mobile phase consisting of phosphate buffer to acetonitrile with the detector wavelength set at 254 nm. This developed method was validated by determination of parameters like accuracy, linearity, precision, limit of detection, and quantification as well as robustness according to ICH guidelines.

Results

Calibration curve of both phytomarkers showed excellent linear correlation coefficients. LOD and LOQ were also calculated by equation. Precision studies were carried out using intra-day and inter-day intervals and RSD values were found to be less than 2.00%. The method was found to be accurate, which was evident from 98.96 to 101.39% and 99.17 to 100.67% recovery of monoammonium glycyrrhizinate and sennoside-B, respectively, when the formulation was spiked with the respective phytomarkers.

Conclusion

The validated method can be employed as standardization tool for herbal formulations with accuracy and precision. The developed method will assist in maintaining the good quality and batch to batch uniformity of polyherbal formulations containing Yashtimadhu, Swarnpatri, and Aragvadha as active ingredients.

Rapid magnetic particles-based enzyme immunoassay for the quality control of Glycyrrhiza spp. based on glycyrrhizin content

Glycyrrhizin (GC) is a triterpenoid saponin isolated from the roots of Glycyrrhiza spp., a medicinal plant that is present in 70% of Kampo prescriptions. Since the GC content in Glycyrrhiza spp. affects its various pharmacological activities, Glycyrrhiza spp. is prescribed to contain at least 2% of GC in the Japanese pharmacopoeia, and its quality control based on GC content is required. In this study, a magnetic particles-based enzyme immunoassay (MPs-EIA) was developed using specific monoclonal antibody against GC (MAb 2H2) for the detection of GC in Glycyrrhiza spp. In this system, the immunoreaction time using primary and secondary antibodies was reduced by taking advantage of the wide surface area of magnetic particles (MPs) conjugated with GC by N,N'‑carbonyldiimidazole (CDI)-mediated method. Optimization of MPs-EIA revealed that total assay time (~2 h) was reduced to over half of that of conventional indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (~5 h). In addition, the GC concentration was detectable within the range from 97.7 to 781 ng/mL, with a limit of detection of 71.4 ng/mL. A series of further validation analyses support the reliability and accuracy of the developed MPs-EIA for the detection of GC in Glycyrrhiza spp. Since the present MPs-EIA overcomes the disadvantage of ELISA in terms of rapidity, it provides a useful approach for the effective quality control of Glycyrrhiza spp., especially when handling multiple samples.

A multicomponent-based microemulsion for boosting ovarian cancer therapy through dual modification with transferrin and SA-R6H4

Balancing the antitumor activity and systemic toxicity of tripterine still faces a big challenge due to the narrow therapeutic window. To address this issue, we report a microemulsion system based on tripterine, brucea oil, and glycyrrhizin, and dual modified with both transferrin and cell-penetrating peptide SA-R₆H₄ (Tf/SA-R₆H₄-TBG-MEs) for combinational and tumor-targeted cancer therapy. Such a microemulsion exhibited a spherical shape with a size of ~50 nm and a mildly-negative charge. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of Tf/SA-R₆H₄-TBG-MEs against ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells was 0.27 ± 0.43 μg tripterine/mL, which was 5.85 times lower than that of free tripterine. The cellular uptake of tripterine after treatment with Tf/SA-R₆H₄-TBG-MEs was 1.56 times higher than that of TBG-MEs (non-modified microemulsion). In pharmacokinetics studies, the area under the curve of Tf/SA-R₆H₄-TBG-MEs increased by 1.97 times compared with that of the physical mixture group. The tumoral accumulation of tripterine was significantly improved in Tf/SA-R₆H₄-TBG-MEs group than TBG-MEs-treated group. In antitumor efficacy in vivo, Tf/SA-R₆H₄-TBG-MEs exhibited the strongest inhibition of tumor growth and the longest survival period among all the groups, which is associated with the rational combination, microemulsion system, and dual modification with tumor-targeted ligands. Importantly, Tf/SA-R₆H₄-TBG-MEs significantly reduced the toxicity of tripterine against the liver and kidney. Our design provides a new approach for efficient and safe ovarian cancer therapy based on a multicomponent combination.

Assessing product adulteration of Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali) herbal medicinal product using DNA barcoding and HPLC analysis

CONTEXT

Eurycoma longifolia Jack (Simaroubaceae) commonly known as Tongkat Ali is one of the most important plants in Malaysia. The plant extracts (particularly roots) are widely used for the treatment of cough and fever besides having antimalarial, antidiabetic, anticancer and aphrodisiac activities.

OBJECTIVES

This study assesses the extent of adulteration of E. longifolia herbal medicinal products (HMPs) using DNA barcoding validated by HPLC analysis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Chloroplastic rbcL and nuclear ITS2 barcode regions were used in the present study. The sequences generated from E. longifolia HMPs were compared to sequences in the GenBank using MEGABLAST to verify their taxonomic identity. These results were verified by neighbor-joining tree analysis in which branches of unknown specimen are compared to the reference sequences established from this study and other retrieved from the GenBank. The HMPs were also analysed using HPLC analysis for the presence of eurycomanone bioactive marker.

RESULTS

Identification using DNA barcoding revealed that 37% of the tested HMPs were authentic while 27% were adulterated with the ITS2 barcode region proven to be the ideal marker. The validation of the authenticity using HPLC analysis showed a situation in which a species which was identified as authentic was found not to contain the expected chemical compound.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

DNA barcoding should be used as the first screening step for testing of HMPs raw materials. However, integration of DNA barcoding with HPLC analysis will help to provide detailed knowledge about the safety and efficacy of the HMPs.

Review: DNA Barcoding and Chromatography Fingerprints for the Authentication of Botanicals in Herbal Medicinal Products

In the last two decades, there has been a tremendous increase in the global use of herbal medicinal products (HMPs) due to their claimed health benefits. This has led to increase in their demand and consequently, also, resulted in massive adulteration. This is due to the fact that most of the traditional methods cannot identify closely related species in a process product form. Therefore the urgent need for simple and rapid identification methods resulted in the discovery of a novel technique. DNA barcoding is a process that uses short DNA sequence from the standard genome for species identification. This technique is reliable and is not affected by external factors such as climates, age, or plant part. The difficulties in isolation of DNA of high quality in addition to other factors are among the challenges encountered using the DNA barcoding in the authentication of HMP. These limitations indicated that using DNA barcoding alone may ineffectively authenticate the HMP. Therefore, the combination of DNA barcoding with chromatographic fingerprint, a popular and generally accepted technique for the assessment and quality control of HMP, will offer an efficient solution to effectively evaluate the authenticity and quality consistency of HMP. Detailed and quality information about the main composition of the HMPs will help to ascertain their efficacy and safety as these are very important for quality control.

Purification of high-purity glycyrrhizin from licorice using hydrophilic interaction solid phase extraction coupled with preparative reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Glycyrrhizin (GA), a major bioactive compound in licorice, has been extensively used throughout the world as a medicine to treat chronic viral hepatitis and allergic dermatitis. In this study, a new method based on hydrophilic interaction solid phase extraction (HILIC-SPE) and preparative reversed-phase liquid chromatography (prep-RPLC) was developed to purify GA with high purity from the complex licorice extract. Via evaluation of retention behavior of GA and flavonoids in different commercially available columns, a hydrophilic column--Click XIon was finally chosen for the purification due to its excellent resolution toward GA and flavonoids under HILIC mode. To optimize the SPE elution conditions, relative factors including water content, pH and ionic strength had been investigated in chromatographic condition. The result indicated that the most appropriate water content was 30% and pH at 4.00, as well as salt concentration should be controlled at 5mM. In addition, the optimization revealed that GA experiences both hydrophilic interaction and ion-exchange interaction on the Click XIon material. According to the chromatographic evaluation, the optimized conditions were applied to HILIC-SPE to enrich GA from licorice, which leads to an increased content of GA from 13.67% to 64.22%. Finally, prep-RPLC was performed to obtain GA with purity higher than 99.00%，which demonstrating great prospect in large-scale preparation of GA.

Utilization of the Ability to Induce Activation of the Nuclear Factor (Erythroid-derived 2)-like Factor 2 (Nrf2) to Assess Potential Cancer Chemopreventive Activity of Liquorice Samples

INTRODUCTION

Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor that regulates expression of many detoxification enzymes. Nrf2-antioxidant responsive element (Nrf2-ARE) signalling pathway can be a target for cancer chemoprevention. Glycyrrhiza glabra, common name, 'liquorice', is used as a sweetening and flavouring agent, and traditionally, to treat various ailments, and implicated to chemoprevention. However, its chemopreventive property has not yet been scientifically substantiated.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the ability of liquorice root samples to induce Nrf2 activation correlating to their potential chemopreventive property.

METHODS

The ability of nine methanolic extracts of liquorice root samples, collected from various geographical origins, to induce Nrf2 activation was determined by the luciferase reporter assay using the ARE-reporter cell line, AREc32. The antioxidant properties were determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) and the ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays.

RESULTS

All extracts exhibited free-radical-scavenging property (RC50  = 136.39-635.66 µg/mL). The reducing capacity of ferrous ion was 214.46-465.59 μM Fe(II)/g. Nrf2 activation indicated that all extracts induced expression of ARE-driven luciferase activity with a maximum induction of 2.3 fold relative to control. These activities varied for samples from one geographical location to another.

CONCLUSIONS

The present findings add to the existing knowledge of cancer chemoprevention by plant-derived extracts or purified phytochemicals, particularly the potential use of liquorice for this purpose. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Comparative Cytotoxicity of Glycyrrhiza glabra Roots from Different Geographical Origins Against Immortal Human Keratinocyte (HaCaT), Lung Adenocarcinoma (A549) and Liver Carcinoma (HepG2) Cells

Glycyrrhiza glabra L. (Fabaceae), commonly known as 'liquorice', is a well-known medicinal plant. Roots of this plant have long been used as a sweetening and flavouring agent in food and pharmaceutical products, and also as a traditional remedy for cough, upper and lower respiratory ailments, kidney stones, hepatitis C, skin disorder, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, gastrointestinal ulcers and stomach ache. Previous pharmacological and clinical studies have revealed its antitussive, antiinflammatory, antiviral, antimicrobial, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, hepatoprotective and cardioprotective properties. While glycyrrhizin, a sweet-tasting triterpene saponin, is the principal bioactive compound, several bioactive flavonoids and isoflavonoids are also present in the roots of this plant. In the present study, the cytotoxicity of the methanol extracts of nine samples of the roots of G. glabra, collected from various geographical origins, was assessed against immortal human keratinocyte (HaCaT), lung adenocarcinoma (A549) and liver carcinoma (HepG2) cell lines using the in vitro 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazoliumbromide cell toxicity/viability assay. Considerable variations in levels of cytotoxicity were observed among various samples of G. glabra.