Simultaneous quantitative assays of 15 ginsenosides from 119 batches of ginseng samples representing 12 traditional Chinese medicines by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with charged aerosol detector

Multiple heart-cutting two-dimensional liquid chromatography/charged aerosol detector assay of ginsenosides for quality evaluation of ginseng from diverse Chinese patent medicines

For quality control of Chinese patent medicines (CPMs) containing the same herbal medicine or different herbal medicines that have similar chemical composition, current ″one standard for one species″ research mode leads to poor universality of the analytical approaches unfavorable to discriminate easily confused species. Herein, we were aimed to elaborate a multiple heart-cutting two-dimensional liquid chromatography/charged aerosol detector (MHC-2DLC/CAD) approach to quantitatively assess ginseng from multiple CPMs. Targeting baseline resolution of 16 ginsenosides (noto-R1/Rg1/Re/Rf/Ra2/Rb1/Rc/Ro/Rb2/Rb3/Rd/Rh1/Rg2/Rg3/Rg3(R)/24(R)-p-F11), experiments were conducted to optimize key parameters and validate its performance. A Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column and an XBridge Shield RP18 column were separately utilized in the first-dimensional (1D) and the second-dimensional (2D) chromatography. Eight consecutive cuttings could achieve good separation of 16 ginsenosides within 85 min. The developed MHC-2DLC/CAD method showed good linearity (R2 > 0.999), repeatability (RSD < 6.73%), stability (RSD < 5.63%), inter- and intra-day precision (RSD < 5.57%), recovery (93.76-111.14%), and the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) varied between 0.45-2.37 ng and 0.96-4.71 ng, respectively. We applied it to the content determination of 16 ginsenosides simultaneously from 28 different ginseng-containing CPMs, which unveiled the ginsenoside content difference among the tested CPMs, and gave useful information to discriminate ginseng in the preparation samples, as well. The MHC-2DLC/CAD approach exhibited advantages of high specificity, good separation ability, and relative high analysis efficiency, which also justified the feasibility of our proposed ″Monomethod Characterization of Structure Analogs″ strategy in quality evaluation of diverse CPMs that contained different ginseng.

Three-dimensional characteristic chromatogram by online comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography: Application to the identification and differentiation of ginseng from herbal medicines to various Chinese patent medicines

One bottleneck problem in the quality control of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is the accurate identification of easily confused herbal medicines from Chinese patent medicine (CPM). Ginseng products derived from the multiple parts (e.g., root/rhizome, leaf, and flower bud) of multiple Panax species (P. ginseng, P. quinquefolius, P. notoginseng, P. japonicus, and P. japonicus var. major) are globally popular; however, their authentication is very challenging. Using online comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography (LC × LC), we propose the concept of a three-dimensional characteristic chromatogram (3D CC) by integrating enhanced LC × LC separation and a contour plot that visualizes the stereoscopic chromatographic peaks and examine its performance in authenticating various ginseng products. Targeted at the resolution of 17 ginsenoside markers, an online LC × LC/UV system with a 56 min analysis time was constructed: a CORTECS UPLC Shield RP 18 column running at 0.1 mL/min for the first-dimensional chromatography and a Poroshell SB-Aq column at 2.0 mL/min in shift gradient mode in the second dimension of separation. In particular, ginsenosides Rg1/Re and Rc/Ra1 were well resolved. According to the presence/absence of stereo peaks consistent with the main ginsenoside markers in the 3D CC and the depth of shade (depending on peak volume), it was feasible to use a single method to identify and distinguish among 12 different ginseng species as the drug materials and the use of ginseng simultaneously from 21 CPMs. Conclusively, a practical solution enabling the accurate identification of easily confused TCMs was provided, covering both the drug materials and the compound preparations.

Identification of the Authenticity and Geographical Origin of Bear Bile Powder by Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography - Charged Aerosol Detector Fingerprints Combined with Chemometrics

Bear bile powder (BBP) is a rare animal-derived traditional Chinese medicine, and it has been widely used to treat visual disorders and hepatobiliary diseases in East Asia. However, there is still a lack of reliable quality control methods for BBP. This study was designed to establish a comprehensive quality map of BBP based on bile acids. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with charged aerosol detector (HPLC-CAD) was used for fingerprint establishment and quantitative analysis of BBP. The similarities of HPLC-CAD chromatograms for 50 batches of BBP were more than 0.95, while the similarities of reference chromatograms between 6 other animal bile and BBP were low than 0.7. Additionally, five bile acids in BBP, including tauroursodeoxycholic acid, taurocholic acid, taurochenodeoxycholic acid, ursodesoxycholic acid, and chenodeoxycholic acid, were simultaneously quantified. This method has been validated with good regression as well as satisfactory precision, sensitivity, stability, repeatability, and accuracy. Using this method, the contents of five bile acids in BBP samples from five producing areas were determined and compared. Furthermore, Fisher linear discriminant analysis was performed to discriminate the geographic origins of BBP. The result demonstrated that HPLC-CAD fingerprint combined with multi-components quantification is an effective and reliable method for quality control of BBP, it could be a meaningful reference for the quality evaluation of medicinal bile.

Pseudotargeted Metabolomics Approach Enabling the Classification-Induced Ginsenoside Characterization and Differentiation of Ginseng and Its Compound Formulation Products

The use of diversified ginseng extracts in health-promoting foods is difficult to differentiate, as they share bioactive ginsenosides among different Panax species (e.g., P. ginseng, P. quinquefolius, P. notoginseng, and P. japonicus) and different parts (e.g., root, leaf, and flower). This work was designed to develop a pseudo-targeted metabolomics approach to discover ginsenoside markers facilitating the precise authentication of ginseng and its use in compound formulation products (CFPs). Versatile mass spectrometry experiments on the QTrap mass spectrometer achieved classified characterization of the neutral, malonyl, and oleanolic acid-type ginsenosides, with 567 components characterized. A pseudo-targeted metabolomics approach by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of 262 ion pairs could assist to establish key identification points for 12 ginseng species. The simultaneous detection of 14 markers enabled the identification of ginseng from 15 ginseng-containing CFPs. The pseudo-targeted metabolomics strategy enabled better performance in differentiating among multiple ginseng, compared with the full-scan high-resolution mass spectrometry approach.

Comparison of two methods for ginsenosides quantitation

The present study provides a comparison of two liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry methods for ginsenosides analysis. The two methods have the same liquid chromatography separation procedure, and both use tandem mass spectrometry detection. However, one method uses multiple reaction monitoring transitions commonly recommended in the literature starting with [M + Na]⁺ as the molecular ions and with detection of specific fragment ions from the molecules M, while the other is an original method using [M + Cs]⁺ as molecular ions and Cs⁺ as fragment ion. The method using [M + Cs]⁺ as molecular ion has a very high sensitivity allowing the measurement of concentrations in the injecting solutions as low as 4 ng/ml with peaks at this concentration showing signal to noise ratio of 20 or higher. The procedures were utilized for the measurement of eight ginsenosides (Rb1, Rb2, Rc, Rd, Re, Rf (S), Rg1, and Rg2), although the method using [M + Cs]⁺ has the potential for measuring other ginsenosides. As an application, the ginsenosides were measured in several types of ginseng root, several dietary supplements containing ginseng extracts, four energy drinks, and a sample of ashwagandha.

Simultaneous determination of seven anthraquinones in Cassiae semen by natural deep eutectic solvent extraction

INTRODUCTION

Anthraquinones are considered to be an important class of bioactive substances in Cassiae semen, and the content of anthraquinones is an essential indicator of the quality of Cassiae semen raw herbal materials.

OBJECTIVES

The present study aimed to propose a novel, efficient and effective ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) method for the simultaneous determination of aurantio-obtusin, aloe-emodin, rhein, obtusin, emodin, chrysophanol and physcion, with the help of natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs) as extraction solvents.

METHODOLOGY

NADESs were introduced to the simultaneous extraction of anthraquinones from Cassiae semen samples. Several NADESs were designed by menthol, choline chloride, d-glucose as hydrogen bond acceptors, with nine different acids and appropriate water as hydrogen bond donors. The parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of seven anthraquinones were demonstrated in detail.

RESULTS

Among the obtained NADESs, the highest extraction efficiency was demonstrated by a solution consisting of d-glucose, lactic acid and water with a molar ratio of 1:5:4. The seven anthraquinones were separated on an ACQUITY UPLC® BEH C₁₈ column (2.1 mm × 100 mm, 1.8 μm) and detected within 12 min by a photodiode array (PDA) detector at 254 and 284 nm. The limits of detection and quantitation were from 1.00 to 7.26 μg/l and 3.29 to 24.22 μg/l, respectively. And Cassiae semen sample-based recoveries ranged from 81.13% to 113.78% with the relative standard deviation (RSD) (n = 6) of 1.4% to 10.1%.

CONCLUSION

The developed method demonstrated that NADESs were applied successfully to analyse the anthraquinones in Cassiae semen samples collected from different regions in China.