A trinity fingerprint evaluation system of traditional Chinese medicine

Quality control and evaluation of Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) by three-wavelength fusion fingerprinting and electrochemical fingerprinting combined with antioxidant activity analysis

In this study, Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) was used as an example to provide reference for improving the safety, efficacy and quality consistency of homologous foods. In this study, two quality markers (Q-markers) of 27 batches of Black chokeberry were determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and there were some differences among the 27 samples. Origin B samples had the highest levels of Q-markers for S15, and origin C had lower than average levels overall. Samples were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by Systematic Quantitative Fingerprinting (SQFM). Subsequently, a three-wavelength fusion analysis (TWFP) was established on the chromatographic data to compensate for the lack of a single wavelength. Fourteen batches of TWFP samples were rated at Level 5 or above in the SQFM assessment, indicating that there is some variation in the content of samples from different origins. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to observe the differences in chemical composition and content of TWFP samples. Subsequently, electrochemical fingerprinting (ECFP) was established and nine characteristic parameters were recorded, showing that the samples were suppressed for all electrochemical Belousov-Zhabotinsky oscillation systems (B-Z oscillation systems). Finally, antioxidant tests were performed using DPPH. The antioxidant capacity was predicted using Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis with R2Y = 0.84, Q2 = 0.77, a good model fit and accurate prediction. The fingerprint-potency relationship between IC50-peak area showed that 17 of the 19 shared peaks were negatively correlated, indicating that 17 peaks contributed significantly to the antioxidant. The methods established in this study for the determination of TWFP and ECFP, as well as the spectral relationships with peak area and IC50, can be used for the quality inspection and antioxidant capacity test of Black chokeberry, which provides a new research direction for improving the quality standard of medicinal and foodstuffs.

Study on the material basis of Zhujing pill in treating fundus lesions through component analysis and network pharmacology

Zhujing pill (ZP) is a famous Chinese herbal formula that has been widely used to treat diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and other fundus lesions. In this study, the material basis and mechanism of ZP in the treatment of fundus lesions were evaluated via the high-performance liquid chromatography fingerprint, ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, network pharmacology and molecular docking. A total of 32 common components were found and 31 components were identified in 15 batches of ZP samples. Moreover, 134 common key targets and 17 putative active components that are connected to fundus lesions were identified. Molecular docking revealed that quercetin, kaempferol, isorhamnetin, 5-O-feruloylquinic acid, plantagoside and 2'-acetylacteoside have the ability to interact with the core targets such as AKT1, TP53, TNF, IL-6 and Jun. Our findings revealed that the therapeutic effects of ZP on fundus lesions are mediated by multiple components, targets and pathways, including at least six active ingredients and 11 targets. The study provides new ideas for further research on the material basis and mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions.

A strategy takes "Yiqing" tablets as an example to carry out simpler multi-component quantification and use fingerprint technology for comprehensive quality consistency evaluation

The comprehensive evaluation of the quality of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) is an important issue for the continuous progress and exploration of TCM. In this study, a "Yiqing" tablet (YQT) was taken as an example, and the sample quality was comprehensively investigated by multi-component quantification, multi-dimensional fingerprint construction, and antioxidant activity analysis. Based on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) fingerprint, accurate and fast multi-component quantification is achieved by reliable Multi-markers assay by mono-linear method (MAML) method and verified partial least squares regression (PLSR) model. The basic HPLC fingerprint and the special FTIR quantitative fingerprint were evaluated by SQFM, and the rich fingerprint qualitative and quantitative information of the sample was obtained. The characteristic parameter (blocking rate (BR)) characterizing antioxidant activity in the electrochemical (EC) fingerprint was excavated for the first time, and the fingerprint-efficacy analysis results with HPLC and FTIR were obtained through bivariate correlation analysis (BCA). The results showed that 25 components in the HPLC fingerprint and had antioxidant activity, and most bands of FTIR showed antioxidant activity. Finally, by combining the evaluation results of HPLC and FTIR fingerprint using the mean method, all samples were classified as first level, except for S1, demonstrating the consistency of sample quality. Based on the comprehensive quality evaluation system combining vertical and horizontal combination, this study provides a new idea for achieving comprehensive quality evaluation of TCM.

Quality evaluation of Keteling capsules based on fingerprinting, multicomponent quantification, and quantitative prediction

The Keteling capsule (KC) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) made from the dried extract of Ficus microphylla and an appropriate amount of chlorpheniramine maleate. It is widely used to treat cough and relieve asthma. Despite its extensive usage, a rapid and comprehensive quality evaluation strategy for KC remains a challenge. This study introduces an electrochemical fingerprint analysis technique, in addition to the commonly employed HPLC fingerprints, for efficient and convenient quality evaluation. Moreover, a cost-effective, rapid, and accurate multi-component quantification technique known as the "Multi-markers assay by the monolinear method (MAML)" and the "FT-IR quantitative model" were explored. The HPLC fingerprints were evaluated using a systematically quantified fingerprint method, while the electrochemical fingerprints, based on the Belousov-Zhabotinsky oscillation reaction principle, were effectively analyzed and characterized using oxidation induction times and oscillation lifetimes. Multi-component quantitative analysis was carried out through the MAML and FT-IR quantitative models. The HPLC fingerprint successfully classified the 22 samples into eight grades with excellent discrimination. Active ingredient content analysis was achieved using reliable parameters obtained from electrochemical fingerprinting. The no significant difference in the quantitative results proves the accuracy of the MAML method. Additionally, successful FT-IR quantitative prediction models were developed for chlorogenic acid, isovitexin, and chlorpheniramine maleate. This study offers a dependable and effective approach for enhancing the quality control of KC, and it can provide new insights for improving the quality analysis methods in the field of TCM.

Regulation and standardization of herbal drugs: Current status, limitation, challenge's and future prospective

Herbal drugs (HD) or traditional drugs have been used worldwide for centuries, especially in the developing countries. Global market of HD reaches billion of USD annually and increases every year. For ensuring the safety and efficacy of HD, the Drug Agency/Authority issues regulations for the registration & application of new HD, their manufacturing processes, controlling and monitoring in the market. The efficacy and safety of HD depend on their whole chemical contents. Quality assessment of HD should be performed using standardization methods according to the current Pharmacopoeias or Materia Medica. Unfortunately, the official methods of the compendia cannot be applied for evaluation of mixed herbs and their preparations.; HD's producers should develop, validate, and standardize the method for the quality assessment of their own specific products. Therefore, assuring the safety and efficacy of HD remains a challenging task due to the complex nature of HD, that typically consist of many constituents of herbs/extracts whose quality may vary among different sources of materials. This present review will describe, compare, and discuss the regulations and standardization methods of HD from US, EU countries, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Indonesia. The official standardization methods of HD, their current criteria, limitations, challenge and future prospective will be described and discussed. Official methods for quality assessment of HD should be state of the art, fast, low-cost, accurate and precise, and could be used for evaluation of all kinds of HD.

Advances in the treatment of pancreatic cancer with traditional Chinese medicine

Pancreatic cancer is a common malignancy of the digestive system. With a high degree of malignancy and poor prognosis, it is called the "king of cancers." Currently, Western medicine treats pancreatic cancer mainly by surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, the curative effect is not satisfactory. The application of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the treatment of pancreatic cancer has many advantages and is becoming an important facet of comprehensive clinical treatment. In this paper, we review current therapeutic approaches for pancreatic cancer. We also review the protective effects shown by TCM in different models and discuss the potential molecular mechanisms of these.

Anti-arrhythmia potential of honey-processed licorice in zebrafish model: Antioxidant, histopathological and tissue distribution

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Honey-processed licorice (HPL) is the roasted product of licorice. It is recorded in the "Shang Han Lun" that licorice has better protection on heart after honey-processed. However, researches regarding its protective effect on the heart and the distribution of HPL in vivo are still limited.

AIM OF THE STUDY

To evaluate the cardio-protection of HPL and explore the law of ten main components distribution in vivo under physiological and pathological conditions for an attempt to clarify the pharmacological substance basis of HPL in treating arrhythmia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The adult zebrafish arrhythmia model was established by doxorubicin (DOX). Electrocardiogram (ECG) was used to detect the heart rate changes of zebrafish. SOD and MDA assays were used to evaluate oxidative stress levels in the myocardium. HE staining was used to observe the morphological change of myocardial tissues after HPL treatment. The UPLC-MS/MS was adapted to detect the content of ten main components of HPL in heart, liver, intestine, and brain under normal and heart injury conditions.

RESULTS

Heart rate of zebrafish was decreased, the SOD activity was attenuated and MDA content was increased in myocardium after administration of DOX. Moreover, tissue vacuolation and inflammatory infiltration were detected in zebrafish myocardium induced by DOX. HPL could ameliorate heart injury and bradycardia induced by DOX to a certain extent by increasing SOD activity and reducing MDA content. In addition, the study of tissue distribution revealed that the content of liquiritin, isoliquiritin, and isoliquiritigenin in the heart was higher in the presence of arrhythmias than those in the normal condition. Under pathological conditions, the heart highly exposed to these three components could elicit anti-arrhythmic effects by regulating immunity and oxidation.

CONCLUSION

These findings indicate that the HPL is protective against heart injury induced by DOX, and its effect is associated with the alleviation of oxidative stress and tissue injury. And the cardioprotective effect of HPL under pathological conditions may be related to the high distribution of liquiritin, isoliquiritin, and isoliquiritigenin in heart tissue. This study provides an experimental basis for the cardioprotective effects and tissue distribution of HPL.

Evaluating the quality consistency of antiviral oral liquid by high-performance liquid chromatography five-wavelength matched average fusion fingerprint combined with electrochemical fingerprint and ultraviolet spectral quantum fingerprint

The antiviral oral liquid (AOL) was an antiviral drug currently in clinical trials against coronavirus disease 2019. This study aimed to improve its quality consistency evaluation method using fingerprint techniques from several aspects. First, the five-wavelength matched average fusion fingerprint (FMAFFP) for HPLC, electrochemical fingerprint (ECFP), and ultraviolet spectral quantum fingerprint (UVFP) was established for 22 samples, respectively. Their quality was then assessed using the average linear quantitative fingerprint method, and 22 samples were classified into eight quality grades. OPLS and PCA were then used further to explore the characteristic parameters of these three fingerprints. Five compounds were quantified simultaneously for the first time, and then the relationship between the average linear quantitative similarity (P_L) and the sum of the five quantitative components (P_5c) was investigated. A linear correlation (r ≥ 0.9735) between P_L and P_5c suggested that P_L may be used to predict chemical content. Finally, to investigate the antioxidant potential of the AOL, correlation analyses were performed for FMAFFP peaks-P_EC and UVFP peaks-P_EC, respectively, where the P_EC value was defined as the quantitative similarity of ECFP. The Pearson correlation coefficient and gray correlation analysis were consistent, allowing us to initially explore the antioxidant capacity of the unidentified components of the samples. This study researched AOL using multidimensional fingerprints to provide a comprehensive and reliable method for quality consistency control of herbal compound preparations.

Quality control strategies of medicine food homology materials based on fingerprint profiling and chemometrics: Citri Reticulata Pericarpium as an example

The study aimed to provide a reliable and feasible strategy for the comprehensive quality control of medicine food homology materials (MFHM). The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprints and Fourier transform mid-infrared (FT-MIR) quantized fingerprints were successfully developed to comprehensively evaluate overall quality of Citri Reticulata Pericarpium (CRP) by applying comprehensive quantified fingerprint method (CQFM). All samples were well distinguished and divided into 5 grades. In addition, through principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), the identification ability of HPLC fingerprints and FT-MIR fingerprints on CRP with different storage years was discussed. The results showed that HPLC fingerprints combined with PCA had good discrimination ability, and the PLS-DA model established by the preprocessed FT-MIR fingerprint data could accurately distinguish and predict the storage period of CRP. Finally, based on 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH•) scavenging assay, combined with bivariate correlation analysis, the fingerprint-activity relationship of offline antioxidant activity of CRP samples with the fingerprints peak were studied. In general, the comprehensive strategies provide a reliable and scientific reference scheme for the quality control of MFHM in the future.

Progress and prediction of multicomponent quantification in complex systems with practical LC-UV methods

Complex systems exist widely, including medicines from natural products, functional foods, and biological samples. The biological activity of complex systems is often the result of the synergistic effect of multiple components. In the quality evaluation of complex samples, multicomponent quantitative analysis (MCQA) is usually needed. To overcome the difficulty in obtaining standard products, scholars have proposed achieving MCQA through the "single standard to determine multiple components (SSDMC)" approach. This method has been used in the determination of multicomponent content in natural source drugs and the analysis of impurities in chemical drugs and has been included in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Depending on a convenient (ultra) high-performance liquid chromatography method, how can the repeatability and robustness of the MCQA method be improved? How can the chromatography conditions be optimized to improve the number of quantitative components? How can computer software technology be introduced to improve the efficiency of multicomponent analysis (MCA)? These are the key problems that remain to be solved in practical MCQA. First, this review article summarizes the calculation methods of relative correction factors in the SSDMC approach in the past five years, as well as the method robustness and accuracy evaluation. Second, it also summarizes methods to improve peak capacity and quantitative accuracy in MCA, including column selection and two-dimensional chromatographic analysis technology. Finally, computer software technologies for predicting chromatographic conditions and analytical parameters are introduced, which provides an idea for intelligent method development in MCA. This paper aims to provide methodological ideas for the improvement of complex system analysis, especially MCQA.

Dual control system for comprehensive evaluation of quality consistency of herbal preparations

This study was undertaken to establish an integrated quality control method based on the fingerprint of different testing instruments and a four-dimensional antioxidant activity profile. Firstly, the comprehensive ratio quantitative fingerprint method was used to rapidly calculate the similarity of GC fingerprint, UV-vis quantized fingerprint, HPLC fingerprint and ATR-FT-IR quantized fingerprint. In addition, a comprehensive evaluation strategy was proposed using the variation coefficient weighting algorithm, incorporating four complementary inputs, to achieve highly accurate analysis. At the same time, multi-markers assay by monolinear method was used for the first time for the quantitative analysis of multiple components. Based on this, the fingerprint-efficacy relationship was investigated, and substances that might be biologically active and the wavelength range of their distribution were predicted using the online-HPLC-DPPH-FIA method in conjunction with a PLS model built from individual and combined data matrices. The results showed that all 20 batches of samples were within 1-3 grades, with good quality consistency. According to index E, the samples' overall antioxidant capacity was also highly correlated with the year of production. The four-dimensional antioxidant activity profile also led to the conclusion that variations in antioxidant characteristics were caused by differences in the concentration and volatility of particular bioactive chemicals. Finally, mid-level data fusion produced better classification results than a single technique, further demonstrating the synergistic effects that may occur when the four types of data were combined. This study demonstrated that the combination of GC, UV-vis, ATR-FT-IR and HPLC can be used for the consistency control of herbal preparations and can elucidate the potential in predicting the antioxidant capacity of herbal preparations.