An approach to develop two-dimensional fingerprint for the quality control of Qingkailing injection by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection

Systematic review on fingerprinting development to determine adulteration of Chinese herbal medicines

BACKGROUND

It has been a current research hospots using fingerprinting technology for quality control of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs), which provides a scientific basis for establishment of overall quality control in accordance with the characteristics of CHMs. The fingerprinting technology for CHMs is diverse, and the research field covers many disciplines, such as analytical chemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, biochemistry, and molecular biology.

PURPOSE

To effectively understand the key areas and future directions of research regarding the fingerprint and adulteration of CHMs.

METHODS/RESULTS

this paper analyzed 879 articles in this field in the Web of Science Core Collection from 2000 to 2023 with CiteSpace and VOSviewer, and systematically assessed the research process, hotspots, topic distribution among disciplines, etc. The most prominent contributors of fingerprint and adulteration of CHMs research are mainly from China, India, the United States, England, and Brazil. The knowledge domains of fingerprint and adulteration of CHMs research focus mainly on the topics of molecular authentication, DNA barcoding, HPLC, near-infrared spectroscopy, manage data, chemometrics, and electrochemical fingerprinting. Most countries have recognized the pharmaceutical potential of natural products, and have paid more attention to the fingerprint and adulteration of CHMs in the past decade. Future the research tends to focus more on molecular identification and authentication, and electrochemical and chromatographic fingerprinting in controlling the adulteration of CHMs.

CONCLUSION

This research provides a valuable reference for scholars in related fields to analyze existing research results, understand the development trend, and explore new research directions.

Quantitative Determination of Marker Compounds and Fingerprint Analysis of the Seeds of Vernonia anthelmintica

In traditional Chinese medicine, the seeds of Vernonia anthelmintica (L.) Willd. have been widely used for treatment of cough, skin diseases, diarrhea, fever, schistosomiasis, amoebic dysentery, and gastrointestinal problems, especially in the treatment of vitiligo for thousands of years in China. In this study, an effective, reliable, and accurate high-performance liquid chromatography diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) method was developed for quantitative analysis of 3 marker bioactive compounds and chemical fingerprint of the seeds of V. anthelmintica. Data corresponding to common peak areas and HPLC chromatographic fingerprints were analyzed by exploratory hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) to extract information of the most significant variables contributing to characterization and classification of the analyzed samples. Based on variety and origin, the high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method validated the chemical fingerprint results used to screen the in vitro antioxidant activity of V. anthelmintica. The results show that the developed method has potential application values for the quality consistency evaluation and identification of similar instant V. anthelmintica samples. When considered collectively, this research results provide a scientific basis for the improvement of standardization and specification of V. anthelmintica medicinal materials and provide a pathway for the development and utilization of references for the identification of V. anthelmintica herbs.

A Preferable Approach for the Quality Control of Xiaoer Chiqiao Qingre Granules Based on the Combination of Chromatographic Fingerprints and Chemometrics

A preferable approach of a combination of a multiwavelength fusion HPLC fingerprint and chemometrics for the quality control of Xiaoer Chiqiao Qingre granules (XCQG) was established in this study. A single-wavelength HPLC fingerprint was performed to identify 18 peaks as common peaks in the beginning, and 12 of them were recognized by HPLC-Q/TOF-MS. To overcome the limitation of the single-wavelength HPLC fingerprint, a three-wavelength (230 nm, 250 nm, and 330 nm) fusion fingerprint was established for a more thorough quality assessment. Six main active ingredients (geniposide, paeoniflorin, forsythin, forsythoside A, baicalin, and wogonoside) were selected as chemical markers for simultaneous quantitative analysis, while the results indicated that the content of other five ingredients except forsythoside A presented comparatively stable. Chemometrics including hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were performed to evaluate the homogeneity and heterogeneity of sixteen batches of XCQG. The results of the multiwavelength fingerprint were clearly classified into two clusters by HCA, whereas the single-wavelength fingerprint showed no distinct difference between them. OPLS-DA was further employed to prove that the above six main active ingredients made great contributions to clustering. In summary, this integrated analysis provided a better promoted and more comprehensive method to control the quality of XCQG.

Liquid chromatography fingerprint analysis and antioxidant activity of selected lavender species with chemometric calculations

The extracts of seven Lavandulae species (Lavandula stoechas, Lavandula lanata, Lavandula viridis, Lavandula angustifolia "Rosea", Lavandula angustifolia "Afropurpurea", Lavandula angustifolia and one unknown) were analyzed using the reversed-phase-high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (RP-HPLC-DAD) with gradient elution technique to obtain the chromatographic fingerprint profiles. The HPLC analysis was performed using the Kinetex RP18 chromatographic column and eluent consisting of methanol-water-0.1% formic acid (5-100% (v/v)) at 30 °C with the run time of 60 min. and the detection wavelength 280 nm. The chromatograms were preliminary processed with the smoothing, noise reduction, background subtraction and alignment using the SpecAlign program (version 2.4.1). The presence of selected standards (apigenin, myricetin, luteolin, luteolin 7-glucoside, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid) in the extracts was confirmed. The chemical similarity between studied plants was evaluated using the Cluster Analysis (Pearson correlation coefficient, r, and Euclidean) and PCA. The preliminary antioxidant activity of studied extracts was evaluated based on the total phenolic content (Folin-Ciocalteu method), ferric ion reducing antioxidant parameter (FRAP) and α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging method using the spectrophotometric technique.

Rapid analysis of the Tanreqing injection by near-infrared spectroscopy combined with least squares support vector machine and Gaussian process modeling techniques

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) combined with chemometrics was used to analyze the main active ingredients including chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, luteoloside, baicalin, ursodesoxycholic acid, and chenodeoxycholic acid in the Tanreqing injection. In this paper, first, two hundred samples collected in the product line were divided into the calibration set and prediction set, and the reference values were determined by the High Performance Liquid Chromatography- Diode Array Detector/Evaporative Light Scattering Detector (HPLC-DAD/ELSD) method. Partial least squares (PLS) analysis was implemented as a linear method for models calibrated with different preprocessing means. Wavelet transformation (WT) was introduced as a variable selection technique by means of multiscale decomposition, and wavelet coefficients were employed as the input for modeling. Furthermore, two nonlinear approaches, least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) and Gaussian process (GP), were applied to exploit the complicated relationship between the spectra and active ingredients. The optimal models for each ingredient were obtained by LS-SVM and GP methods. The performance of the final models was evaluated by the root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC), root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV), root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) and correlation coefficient (R). All of the models in the paper give a good calibration ability with an R value above 0.92, and the prediction ability is also satisfactory, with an R value higher than 0.85. The overall results demonstrate that nonlinear models are more stable and predictable than linear ones, and they will be more suitable for the CHM system when high accuracy analysis is required. It can be concluded that NIRS with the LS-SVM and GP modeling methods is promising for the implementation of process analytical technology (PAT) in the pharmaceutical industry of Chinese herbal injections (CHIs).

Quantitative fingerprint and quality control analysis of Compound Liquorice Tablet combined with antioxidant activities and chemometrics methods

BACKGROUND

Herbal medicine (HM), as a complex system, is difficult to investigate their quality consistency effectively by chromatographic fingerprinting obtained in a single detection method. Moreover, active compound discovery affords no information about pharmacological activity until late in the discovery process, and the interaction between HMs in vitro is not yet clear, which requires sufficient practice to prove their effectiveness.

PURPOSE

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to improve the quality control methods of Compound Liquorice Tablet (CLT) using multi-wavelength fusion fingerprinting, explore the possible antioxidant components and assess the interaction between herbs combined with bioactivity evaluation.

METHODS AND DESIGN

Once the theoretical standard preparation obtained in combination of multi-wavelength fusion fingerprinting and hierarchical clustering analysis, averagely linear quantified fingerprint method could rapidly calculate the composition similarities and efficiently quantify the multiple components of CLTs without any chemical standard. Furthermore, the fingerprint-efficacy relationship was investigated by integrating high performance liquid chromatography fingerprints with antioxidant activity assessment using the partial least squares model, which was capable of directly discovering the bioactive ingredients. Hereafter, combination index value was introduced to evaluate the correlation between the two antioxidant herbs in CLT formula.

RESULTS

The results showed that CLT samples were effectively identified and quantified, and their quality was accurately distinguished. By analyzing the antioxidant evaluation results, it was found that CLT had strong antioxidant activity, and through the study on PLS model and antioxidant activity assay of individual compounds, it was found that the order of chemical constituents responsible for antioxidant activity in CLT was as follows: flavonoids > saponins > alkaloids. Finally, it was determined that the CI value of GE-PPCE was in the range of 1.20-1.61, indicating that the interaction of the GE-PPCE pair was a slight antagonism.

CONCLUSION

Thus, this study provided a preferred way for monitoring the quality consistency of HM, exploring possible bioactive components of HMs and assessing the interaction between herbs.

Ion mobility mass spectrometry with molecular modelling to reveal bioactive isomer conformations and underlying relationship with isomerization

RATIONALE

In medicine and drug development, molecular modelling is an important tool. It is attractive to develop a platform connecting the theoretical structural modelling and the results from experimental measurement. In addition, the separation and structural analysis of bioactive constituent isomers are still challenging tasks.

METHODS

Drift tube ion mobility (IM) mass spectrometry (MS) provides the experimental collision cross section (CCS) which contains the structural information. The experimental CCS can be compared with the calculated CCS of the molecular modelling structures. This technique is especially useful for bioactive constituents in herbal medicine because active isomers with the same chemical formula are common in these samples. IM helps separate and identify these isomers and reveals details about their structures and conformations.

RESULTS

Two model bioactive constituents, caffeoylquinic acids (CQAs) and dicaffeoylquinic acids (di-CQAs), were selected to systematically investigate the influence of solution, ion source conditions and ion heating on the isomer CCS distributions. By comparing the calculated CCS with the experimental value, we identified the favorable conformations of CQAs. The most compact conformation of a CQA was less likely to isomerize than the more extended conformation. It was found that the isomerization tendency was in accord with the conformation favorability.

CONCLUSIONS

This study offers an effective approach to predict and demystify the conformation and isomerization of the active constituents in herbal medicines.

Assessment of quality consistency in traditional Chinese medicine using multi-wavelength fusion profiling by integrated quantitative fingerprint method: Niuhuang Jiedu pill as an example

Under the wave of the revival of traditional Chinese medicine, there is a quite imperative duty to study an integrated and comprehensive method of fingerprint data processing and analysis on the quality consistency of traditional Chinese medicine. So, we proposed six parameters from two aspects (qualitative and quantitative), three levels (biased to strong peaks, biased to weak peaks, no obvious bias), to comprehensively evaluate the similarity of the two fingerprints. On this basis, another five parameters were proposed to evaluate the integrated effects (consistency, volatility, and similarity). This method was applied to 22 batches of Niuhuang Jiedu pill samples. Next, a practical and convenient multi-wavelength fusion method was designed to provide more information, and the generated fusion profilings were used for subsequent evaluation. The characteristics of the parameters were confirmed by correlation analysis. The results of both hierarchical clustering analysis and principal component analysis for raw data and standardized data were consistent with integrated quantitative fingerprint method results. At the same time, this method gave a reasonable explanation for abnormal and dissimilar samples. This work illustrated that the proposed method was particularly suitable for similarity analysis of fingerprints and capable of ensuring the quality consistency in traditional Chinese medicine.

Rapid differentiation of Chinese hop varieties (Humulus lupulus) using volatile fingerprinting by HS-SPME-GC-MS combined with multivariate statistical analysis

BACKGROUND

Hops impart flavor to beer, with the volatile components characterizing the various hop varieties and qualities. Fingerprinting, especially flavor fingerprinting, is often used to identify 'flavor products' because inconsistencies in the description of flavor may lead to an incorrect definition of beer quality. Compared to flavor fingerprinting, volatile fingerprinting is simpler and easier.

RESULTS

We performed volatile fingerprinting using head space-solid phase micro-extraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with similarity analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) for evaluating and distinguishing between three major Chinese hops. Eighty-four volatiles were identified, which were classified into seven categories. Volatile fingerprinting based on similarity analysis did not yield any obvious result. By contrast, hop varieties and qualities were identified using volatile fingerprinting based on PCA. The potential variables explained the variance in the three hop varieties. In addition, the dendrogram and principal component score plot described the differences and classifications of hops.

CONCLUSION

Volatile fingerprinting plus multivariate statistical analysis can rapidly differentiate between the different varieties and qualities of the three major Chinese hops. Furthermore, this method can be used as a reference in other fields. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Multiple perspectives of qingkailing injection-fraction-single compound in revealing the hepatotoxicity of baicalin and hyodeoxycholic acid

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

The complexity of ingredients in traditional Chinese medical formulas and the limited consideration of toxicological responses are fundamental issues that hamper prognostic information of drug quality control.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A multidisciplinary approach for quality control of Qingkailing injection (QKL) regarding drug induced liver toxicity was described for the first time. High content image analysis (HCA) was combined with reverse-phase chromatographic separation and high-resolution MS detection technologies to provide the dynamic responses of drug induced HepG2 cell injury. Firstly, a simple and rapid method for simultaneous qualification and quantification of 21 major constituents in QKL was established and validated using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometer (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap), which were operated in full MS/dd-MS² mode and thus simultaneously acquired quantitative high resolution (HR) full scan data and confirmatory HR MS² data. Secondly, repeated semi-preparation HPLC was applied to obtain four fractions (F1-F4) for HCS analysis. Finally, potential hepatotoxicity was determined by five hepatotoxicity biomarkers, including cell loss, DNA condense, glutathione (GSH) depletion, reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, and mitochondria membrane potential (MMP) depolarization.

RESULTS

The detection in polarity switching mode empowered the coverage of comprehensive constituents with different chemical properties. Satisfactory linearity precisions, repeatability, stability, and recovery were achieved. QKL injection significantly induced HepG2 cell injury above the concentration of 1.25% (v/v). Meanwhile, flavone glycosides (F3) and stinasterols (F4) fractions exhibited hepatotoxicity above 75μg/mL and 50μg/mL, respectively. Still further, baicalin originated from F3 significantly caused cell loss and glutathione (GSH) depletion. In parallel, hyodeoxycholic acid from F4 induced cell loss, nucleus condense, and GSH reduction as well.

CONCLUSIONS

Our work provides multiple perspectives based on injection-fractions-single compound format to improve QKL pharmacovigilance through revealing the potential hepatotoxic material basis. Additionally, our study provides an integrating paradigm for the comprehensive and systematic quality control of traditional Chinese medical formulas.

Assessment of chemical equivalence in herbal materials using chromatographic fingerprints by combination of three similarity indices and three-dimensional kernel density estimation

An intuitive and practical way to control chemical equivalence of secondary metabolites in herbal materials based on chromatographic fingerprints deserves a thorough discussion, yet it is relatively unexplored. For the first time, we propose a mixture of three similarity indices, the congruence coefficient, the average of the peak area ratios, and the larger value between the maximum peak area ratio and the reciprocal of the minimum peak area ratio, to make up for the weak points of some widely used similarity indices and to evaluate the chemical equivalence of two fingerprints from various perspectives. The three similarity values are fed into a three-dimensional kernel density estimation to determine the quality of herbal materials. This estimation enables precise detection of anomalies in the absence of prior quality determination experience. Forty Atractylodes samples similar in appearance and indiscriminately used for medical purposes were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed approach. After a reference sample was postulated, a quality assessment of the 40 samples was performed using the three similarity values and the estimated kernel density. The samples that were judged by the developed approach to be of good quality were compared with those chosen by the most popular approach using decision criterion of a single similarity index. The benefits of the proposed approach were evident in that the qualified samples had the composition ratio and individual concentrations of multi-components closer to those of the reference in general, and their inter-sample deviation was significantly smaller.

HPLC-PDA Combined with Chemometrics for Quantitation of Active Components and Quality Assessment of Raw and Processed Fruits of Xanthium strumarium L

As a valuable herbal medicine, the fruits of Xanthium strumarium L. (Xanthii Fructus) have been widely used in raw and processed forms to achieve different therapeutic effects in practice. In this study, a comprehensive strategy was proposed for evaluating the active components in 30 batches of raw and processed Xanthii Fructus (RXF and PXF) samples, based on high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection (HPLC-PDA). Twelve common peaks were detected and eight compounds of caffeoylquinic acids were simultaneously quantified in RXF and PXF. All the analytes were detected with satisfactory linearity (R² > 0.9991) over wide concentration ranges. Simultaneously, the chemically latent information was revealed by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). The results suggest that there were significant differences between RXF and PXF from different regions in terms of the content of eight caffeoylquinic acids. Potential chemical markers for XF were found during processing by chemometrics.

Niu-Huang-Shen suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma cell growth and metastasis by regulating Yap1 expression

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers types. Niu-Huang-Shen (NHS), a Chinese medicine, has been reported to exert antipyretic, anti-inflammatory and vasodilatation effects. However, whether NHS has inhibitory effects on HCC cell phenotypes has remained elusive. In the present study, Cell Counting Kit-8, colony formation, fluorescence-activated cell sorting and Transwell assays were used to evaluate the effect of NHS on cell proliferation, migration and invasion. The results indicated that NHS suppressed cell proliferation and invasion, inhibited cell apoptosis, and induced cell cycle arrest. In addition, NHS significantly suppressed the mRNA and protein expression of Yes-associated protein (YAP). It was concluded that NHS downregulated YAP expression and inhibited the Hippo signaling pathway as well as HCC cell growth and invasion. NHS may be a novel potential therapeutic for HCC patients.

Qingkailing Injection () for Treatment of Children Pneumonia Induced by Respiratory Syncytial Virus: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Qingkailing Injection (, QKL) for treatment of children pneumonia caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

METHODS

Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) comparing QKL with ribavirin injection in the treatment of children pneumonia induced by RSV were searched in PubMed, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, Chinese VIP database, CNKI and Wanfang databases from their inception to March 2014. Meta-analyses were performed using RevMan 5.2 software. The methodological quality of the selected RCTs was evaluated by the Modified Jadad Score. The primary outcome measures were effective rate and the secondary outcomes were relief time of fever and cough.

RESULTS

Seven RCTs with 992 cases published from 2008 to 2013 were identified. The meta-analysis results indicated that QKL was more effective in cure rate [risk ratios (RR)=1.32, 95% CI (1.17, 1.50), P<0.01], total effective rate [RR=1.07, 95% CI (1.02, 1.13), P=0.009] and less fever clearance time [mean difference=-0.73, 95% CI (-1.22,-0.23), P=0.004], compared with ribavirin injection in the treatment of RSV-induced children pneumonia. No dead case was reported in all trials. There were 3 trials mentioned adverse events, 2 reported no obvious adverse event occurred while 1 reported adverse events described as skin hypersensitivity, elevation of ALT, a mild abnormal of hepatic and renal function in both QKL and ribavirin group.

CONCLUSIONS

QKL was an effective and relatively safe option for the treatment of RSV-induced children pneumonia. These therapeutic effects were promising but need to be interpreted with caution due to variations in the treatment and methodological weakness in the studies.

An integrated strategy by using target tissue metabolomics biomarkers as pharmacodynamic surrogate indices to screen antipyretic components of Qingkaikling injection

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment can be valuable therapeutic strategies. However, the active components and action mechanisms that account for its therapeutic effects remain elusive. Based on the hypothesis that the components of a formula which exert effect would be measurable in target tissue, a target tissue metabolomics-based strategy was proposed for screening of antipyretic components in Qingkaikling injection (QKLI). First, we detected the components of QKLI which could reach its target tissue (hypothalamus) by determining the hypothalamus microdialysate and discovered that only baicalin and geniposide could be detected. Then, by conducting hypothalamus metabolomics studies, 14 metabolites were screened as the potential biomarkers that related to the antipyretic mechanisms of QKLI and were used as its pharmacodynamic surrogate indices. Subsequently, the dynamic concentration of baicalin and geniposide in hypothalamus microdialysates and biomarkers in hypothalamus were measured and correlated with each other. The results indicated that only baicalin shown a good correlation with these biomarkers. Finally, a network pharmacology approach was established to validate the antipyretic activity of baicalin and the results elucidated its antipyretic mechanisms as well. The integrated strategy proposed here provided a powerful means for identifying active components and mechanisms contributing to pharmacological effects of TCM.

Converting Panax ginseng DNA and chemical fingerprints into two-dimensional barcode

BACKGROUND

In this study, we investigated how to convert the Panax ginseng DNA sequence code and chemical fingerprints into a two-dimensional code. In order to improve the compression efficiency, GATC2Bytes and digital merger compression algorithms are proposed.

METHODS

HPLC chemical fingerprint data of 10 groups of P. ginseng from Northeast China and the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequence code as the DNA sequence code were ready for conversion. In order to convert such data into a two-dimensional code, the following six steps were performed: First, the chemical fingerprint characteristic data sets were obtained through the inflection filtering algorithm. Second, precompression processing of such data sets is undertaken. Third, precompression processing was undertaken with the P. ginseng DNA (ITS2) sequence codes. Fourth, the precompressed chemical fingerprint data and the DNA (ITS2) sequence code were combined in accordance with the set data format. Such combined data can be compressed by Zlib, an open source data compression algorithm. Finally, the compressed data generated a two-dimensional code called a quick response code (QR code).

RESULTS

Through the abovementioned converting process, it can be found that the number of bytes needed for storing P. ginseng chemical fingerprints and its DNA (ITS2) sequence code can be greatly reduced. After GTCA2Bytes algorithm processing, the ITS2 compression rate reaches 75% and the chemical fingerprint compression rate exceeds 99.65% via filtration and digital merger compression algorithm processing. Therefore, the overall compression ratio even exceeds 99.36%. The capacity of the formed QR code is around 0.5k, which can easily and successfully be read and identified by any smartphone.

CONCLUSION

P. ginseng chemical fingerprints and its DNA (ITS2) sequence code can form a QR code after data processing, and therefore the QR code can be a perfect carrier of the authenticity and quality of P. ginseng information. This study provides a theoretical basis for the development of a quality traceability system of traditional Chinese medicine based on a two-dimensional code.

Simultaneous Quantification of Multiple Representative Components in the Xian-Ling-Gu-Bao Capsule by Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Xian-Ling-Gu-Bao capsule (XLGB), a famous traditional Chinese medicine prescription, is extensively used for the treatment of osteoporosis in China. However, few studies on the holistic quality control of XLGB have been reported. In this study, a reliable method using 18 representative components in XLGB was successfully established and applied to evaluate 34 batches of XLGB samples by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS). The choice of quantitative markers mostly followed four principles, i.e., absorbed components in plasma, bioactive compounds with in vitro anti-osteoporosis activity, those derived from multiple individual medicinal herbs in XLGB with multiple representative structure types, and quantitative chemical markers in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The results showed chemical consistency was good except for individual batches. Multivariate statistical analysis indicated that asperosaponin VI from Radix Dipsaci, epimedin C, magnoflorine, and icariin from Herba Epimedii as well as timosaponin BII from Rhizoma Anemarrhenae varied significantly in multiple samples, which hinted an assay for these four components should be completed during all of the manufacturing processes. Taken together, this study provided a feasible method for holistic quality control of XLGB by multiple chemical markers, which could play a vital role in guaranteeing the safety, effectiveness, and controllability of administering the capsules as a medication in clinics.

A Strategy for Quality Control of Menispermum dauricum DC Based on Cytotoxic Activity and HPLC Fingerprint Analysis

The rhizome of Menispermum dauricum DC known as a traditional Chinese medicine, with high content of alkaloids, has been found to possess antitumor activity. In this research, an attempt to correlate fingerprinting with bioactivity was made for quality control of M. dauricum. Firstly, the cytotoxicity of extracts from ten batches of samples against human breast MCF-7 cancer cells was estimated by [3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide] assay. Then, cytotoxic activity-integrated fingerprints were established by high performance liquid chromatography. Eight peaks were selected as the common peaks to evaluate the similarities of samples and hierarchical clustering analysis was used to identify and classify different samples into groups. Assays for determinations of total alkaloids and dauricine contents enabled cytotoxicity coefficient of each extract. The potential usefulness of employing cytotoxicity coefficient was investigated by a combination of Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple linear regression analysis as being the reliable parameter to evaluate the herbal extracts. The results indicated that the level of dauricine (peak 8 in the fingerprint) correlated closely with cytotoxicity and played a significant role in the cytotoxicity of Bei Dou-Gen and could be related to its antitumor properties. It is proposed that the cytotoxicity coefficient value with a cytotoxic activity-integrated fingerprint of key biomarkers (dauricine) may be useful indicators to adopt for the quality control of M. dauricum. The analysis of cytotoxic-activity-integrated fingerprint could correlate fingerprinting with bioactivities and would provide a reasonable strategy for quality control of complex mixture of herbal medicines.

Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Modeling to Study the Antipyretic Effect of Qingkailing Injection on Pyrexia Model Rats

Qingkailing injection (QKLI) is a modern Chinese medicine preparation derived from a well-known classical formulation, An-Gong-Niu-Huang Wan. Although the clinical efficacy of QKLI has been well defined, its severe adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were extensively increased. Through thorough attempts to reduce ADR rates, it was realized that the effect-based rational use plays the key role in clinical practices. Hence, the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) model was introduced in the present study, aiming to link the pharmacokinetic profiles with the therapeutic outcomes of QKLI, and subsequently to provide valuable guidelines for the rational use of QKLI in clinical settings. The PK properties of the six dominant ingredients in QKLI were compared between the normal treated group (NTG) and the pyrexia model group (MTG). Rectal temperatures were measured in parallel with blood sampling for NTG, MTG, model control group (MCG), and normal control group (NCG). Baicalin and geniposide exhibited appropriate PK parameters, and were selected as the PK markers to map the antipyretic effect of QKLI. Then, a PK-PD model was constructed upon the bacalin and geniposide plasma concentrations vs. the rectal temperature variation values, by a two-compartment PK model with a Sigmoid Emax PD model to explain the time delay between the drug plasma concentration of PK markers and the antipyretic effect after a single dose administration of QKLI. The findings obtained would provide fundamental information to propose a more reasonable dosage regimen and improve the level of individualized drug therapy in clinical settings.

Chemometrics applied to quality control and metabolomics for traditional Chinese medicines

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) bring a great challenge in quality control and evaluating the efficacy because of their complexity of chemical composition. Chemometric techniques provide a good opportunity for mining more useful chemical information from TCMs. Then, the application of chemometrics in the field of TCMs is spontaneous and necessary. This review focuses on the recent various important chemometrics tools for chromatographic fingerprinting, including peak alignment information features, baseline correction and applications of chemometrics in metabolomics and modernization of TCMs, including authentication and evaluation of the quality of TCMs, evaluating the efficacy of TCMs and essence of TCM syndrome. In the conclusions, the general trends and some recommendations for improving chromatographic metabolomics data analysis are provided.

Field-induced wooden-tip electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for high-throughput analysis of herbal medicines

This study demonstrates the first application of field-induced wooden-tip electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry (MS) for high-throughput analysis of herbal medicines. By application of an opposite and sample-contactless high voltage on the MS inlet rather than wooden tips, a high-throughput analysis device is easily set up, and a relatively fast analysis speed of 6 s per sample was successfully achieved. In addition, fast polarity switching between positive and negative ion detection mode is readily accomplished, which provides more complete chemical information for quality assessment and control of herbal medicines. By using the proposed method, various active ingredients present in different herbal medicines were rapidly detected, and the obtained mass spectra were served as the samples' fingerprints for tracing the origins, establishing the authenticity, and assessing the quality consistency and stability of herbal medicines. Our experimental results demonstrated that field-induced wooden-tip ESI-MS is a desirable method for high-throughput analysis of herbal medicines, with promising prospects for rapidly differentiating the origin, determining the authenticity, and assessing the overall quality of pharmaceuticals.

Traceability and Quality Control in Traditional Chinese Medicine: From Chemical Fingerprint to Two-Dimensional Barcode

Chemical fingerprinting is currently a widely used tool that enables rapid and accurate quality evaluation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). However, chemical fingerprints are not amenable to information storage, recognition, and retrieval, which limit their use in Chinese medicine traceability. In this study, samples of three kinds of Chinese medicines were randomly selected and chemical fingerprints were then constructed by using high performance liquid chromatography. Based on chemical data, the process of converting the TCM chemical fingerprint into two-dimensional code is presented; preprocess and filtering algorithm are also proposed aiming at standardizing the large amount of original raw data. In order to know which type of two-dimensional code (2D) is suitable for storing data of chemical fingerprints, current popular types of 2D codes are analyzed and compared. Results show that QR Code is suitable for recording the TCM chemical fingerprint. The fingerprint information of TCM can be converted into data format that can be stored as 2D code for traceability and quality control.

Study on the digitized and quantified evaluating method for the super information cluster of traditional Chinese medicine ultraviolet spectral fingerprints

The theories of ultraviolet spectral fingerprint (UVFP) index, information index, fluctuation index, information fluctuation index combined with the quantified UV fingerprint method (QUFM) had been established and put into practice in the Ginkgo Tablets (GT) quality evaluation. The flowing injection analysis (FIA) coupled with a diode array detector was applied as a novel method to obtain the UVFP in the region of 190-400 nm at which the absorption can reflect all the information of the chemical constituents contained π→π*, n→π* and n→σ* transition. The result showed that all batches were qualified (Grade ≤3) except S8 for its too high contents. It was proved that this method made the expression of superposed information in UVFP of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) digitized and simple. What's more, an approach which can test the total chemical content with the chromophoric characteristics in the complex system of TCM rapidly, simply and accurately was achieved by the application of QUFM. In one word, it made the exploration of the general characteristic information of the molecular absorption complex TCM in the ultraviolet regions feasible and possible.

Effects of salinity on antibiotic production in sponge-derived Salinispora actinobacteria

AIMS

To investigate the effects of growth conditions related to marine habitat on antibiotic production in sponge-derived Salinispora actinobacteria.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Media with varying salt concentration were used to investigate the effects of salinity in relation to Salinispora growth and rifamycin production. The chemotypic profiles of the model strain Salinispora arenicola M413 was then assessed using metabolomic fingerprints from high-pressure liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) and multivariate data analysis, before extending this approach to two other strains of S. arenicola. Fingerprint data were generated from extracts of S. arenicola broth cultures grown in media of varying salt (NaCl) concentrations. These fingerprints were then compared using multivariate analysis methods such as principal components analysis (PCA) and orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). From the analysis, a low-sodium growth condition (1% NaCl) was found to delay the onset of growth of the model S. arenicola M413 strain when compared to growth in media with either 3% artificial sea salt or 3% NaCl. However, low-sodium growth conditions also increased cell mass yield and contributed to at least a significant twofold increase in rifamycin yield when compared to growth in 3% artificial sea salt and 3% NaCl.

CONCLUSIONS

The integration of HPLC-DAD and multivariate analysis proved to be an effective method of assessing chemotypic variations in Salinispora grown in different salt conditions, with clear differences between strain-related chemotypes apparent due to varying salt concentrations.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

The observed variation in S. arenicola chemotypic profiles further suggests diversity in secondary metabolites in this actinomycete in response to changes in the salinity of its environment.

Quality control and identification of steroid saponins from Dioscorea zingiberensis C. H. Wright by fingerprint with HPLC-ELSD and HPLC-ESI-Quadrupole/Time-of-fight tandem mass spectrometry

In this study, a fingerprint of steroid saponins, the major bioactive constituents in the crude extracts from Dioscorea zingiberensis C. H. Wright (DZW), has been established for the first time by combined use of the following two methods: high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-ELSD) and the simultaneous characterization of the steroid saponins by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry and quadrupole tandem time-of-fight mass analyzers detection (HPLC-ESI-Q/TOF). All HPLC analyses were carried out on a Welchrom C18 column (250mm×4.6mm I.D., 5μm) with a mobile phase composed of water and acetonitrile under gradient elution. There were 68 common characteristic peaks in the fingerprints, in which 12 of them were confirmed by comparing their mass spectra and retention times with those of the reference compounds. In order to identify other unknown peaks, their fragmentation behaviors characteristic of the major groups of steroid saponins from DZW with six types of aglycone skeletons were discussed in detail, and possible MS/MS fragmentation pathways were proposed for aiding the structural identification of these components. According to the summarized fragmentation patterns, these peaks were tentatively assigned by matching their empirical molecular formula with those of the published compounds, or by elucidating their quasi-molecular ions and fragment ions referring to available literature information when the reference standards were unavailable. As a result, 22 new steroid saponins were found in DZW for the first time. In addition, the quantitative analysis of the nine (except for the reference compounds A, B, and C) known peaks was accomplished at the same time which indicated that there was a great variability in the amount of these active compounds in different batches in the crude extracts. This approach could demonstrate that the fingerprint could be considered to be a suitable tool to comprehensively improve the quality control of DZW. The identification and structural elucidation of the peaks in the fingerprint may provide important experimental data for further pharmacological and clinical researches.

Quality consistency evaluation of Melissa officinalis L. commercial herbs by HPLC fingerprint and quantitation of selected phenolic acids

To evaluate the quality consistency of commercial medicinal herbs, a simple and reliable HPLC method with UV-vis detector was developed, both for fingerprint analysis and quantitation of some pharmacologically active constituents (marker compounds). Melissa officinalis L. (lemon balm) was chosen for this study because it is widely used as an aromatic, culinary and medicine remedy. About fifty peaks were found in each chromatogram of a lemon balm extract, including twelve satisfactorily resolved characteristic peaks. A reference chromatographic fingerprint for the studied medicinal herb was calculated using Matlab 9.1 software as a result of analysing all the 19 lemon balm samples obtained from 12 Polish manufacturers. The similarity values and the results of principal component analysis revealed that all the samples were highly correlated with the reference fingerprint and could be accurately classified in relation to their quality consistency. Next, a quantitation of selected phenolic acids in the studied samples was performed. The results have shown that the levels of phenolic acids, i.e. gallic, chlorogenic, syringic, caffeic, ferulic and rosmarinic were as follows (mg/g of dry weight): 0.001-0.067, 0.010-0.333, 0.007-0.553, 0.047-0.705, 0.006-1.589 and 0.158-48.608, respectively. Statistical analysis indicated that rosmarinic acid occurs in M. officinalis at the highest level, whereas gallic acid in the lowest. A detailed inspection of these data has also revealed that reference chromatographic fingerprints combined with quantitation of pharmacologically active constituents of the plant could be used as an efficient strategy for monitoring of the lemon balm quality consistency.

UPLC Q-TOF/MS-Based Metabolic Profiling of Urine Reveals the Novel Antipyretic Mechanisms of Qingkailing Injection in a Rat Model of Yeast-Induced Pyrexia

Fever is one of the most common clinical symptoms of many diseases. Qingkailing (QKL) injection is widely used in China as a clinical emergency medicine due to its good antipyretic effects. It is a herbal formula which is composed by eight kinds of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM). As a kind of typical multiple constituents and multiple actions of TCM, it is very difficult to elaborate the antipyretic mechanism by conventional pharmacological method. Metabonomics technique provides beneficial tool for this challenge. In this study, an ultra performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC Q-TOF/MS) metabonomics method was developed to explore the changing process of biochemical substances in rats of yeast-induced pyrexia. Partial least squares discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) was used to distinguish the normal control group, the pyrexia model group, and the pyrexia model group treated by QKL injection. The potential biomarkers related to pyrexia were confirmed and identified. MetPA was used to find the possible metabolic pathways. The results indicated that the antipyretic effect of QKL injection on yeast-induced pyrexia rats was performed by repairing the perturbed metabolism of amino acids.

Multidimensional information-based HPLC technologies to evaluate traditional chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are usually complex mixtures and contain hundreds of chemically different constituents, which make the quality control (QC) of crude drugs and their medical preparations extremely difficult. In the past years, with the rapid development of modern instrumental analysis and computer-aided data processing techniques, great progress has been made in the research of quality standards and the development of QC techniques. Among them, the use of the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique is one of the best approaches because of its high separation efficiency. However, one-way separation, single detection methods or data processing cannot meet the needs of the QC of TCMs. Multidimensional information-based HPLC technologies such as two-dimensional HPLC, HPLC coupled with several different detection methods and HPLC fingerprint combined with multicomponent quantification have solved this problem with their comprehensive analysis; these methods have gradually been accepted by more researchers for further in-depth study. The present work provides an overview of the development of QC for TCMs based on HPLC technologies with modern hyphenated techniques, multiseparation methods and some common data processing methods in fingerprint spectra over the last six years.