Simultaneous determination of eight tryptic peptides in musk using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

In comparison of herbal medicines, less attention has been paid onto animal medicines, partially attributing to the protein-enriched property. Particularly, it is still challenging to conduct quality evaluation for the animal medicines because of the lack of a fit-for-purpose analytical tool. Herein, an attempt was made to propose a workflow allowing the quality assessment of animal medicines by LC-MS/MS, and musk that is one of the most precious traditional Chinese medicines was employed as a representative case for utility illustration. After the extraction of protein from musk with a well-defined protocol, tryptic digestion was conducted to hydrolyze proteins into peptides, and the peptide-enriched sample was subjected to nanoLC-Orbitrap MS measurement. The tandem mass spectral dataset was retrieved in Human Swiss-Prot FASTA database, and the sequences together with the sources of 733 tryptic peptides, in total, were annotated. Because of the abundant distributions, eight peptides were chosen as the analytes for quantitative measurements, and their quantitative MS parameters, such as ion transitions and collision energies, were rapid optimized in an authentic compound-free manner using online energy-resolved MS (ER-MS). On the other side, the annotated peptides were structurally consolidated via synthesizing reference peptides. When the synthetic peptides were applied for parameter optimization with the authentic compound-dependent manner, the values were almost identical with those from online ER-MS measurements. After being validated with diverse assays, the developed method was applied for the simultaneous determination of eight peptides in 28 batches of musk samples, including captive (C1-C18) and wild ones (W1-W10). Significant differences took place for the content patterns of concerned tryptic peptides between the captive and wild musk samples. Trace distributions occurred for DVDAAYMNK in most batches. Captive samples were rich of QSLEASLAETEGR, TLLDIDNTR, and EVATNSELVQSGK, whereas wild samples were able to accumulate YLGYLEQLLR. Together, the present study provided a meaningful approach for the quality evaluation of musk, as well as other peptide-enriched animal medicines, even if the absences of authentic peptides.

Quality standard of traditional Chinese medicines: comparison between European Pharmacopoeia and Chinese Pharmacopoeia and recent advances

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are becoming more and more popular all over the world. However, quality issues of TCM may lead to medical incidents in practice and therefore quality control is essential to TCM. In this review, the state of TCM in European Pharmacopoeia are compared with that in Chinese Pharmacopoeia, and herbal drugs that are not considered as TCM and not elaborated by TCM working party at European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & Health Care (EDQM) but present in both European Pharmacopoeia and Chinese Pharmacopoeias are also discussed. Different aspects in quality control of TCM including origins, identification, tests and assays, as well as sample preparation, marker selection and TCM processing are covered to address the importance of establishing comprehensive quality standard of TCM. Furthermore, advanced analytical techniques for quality control and standard establishment of TCM are also reviewed.

Large Volume Direct Injection Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry-Based Comparative Pharmacokinetic Study between Single and Combinatory Uses of Carthamus tinctorius Extract and Notoginseng Total Saponins

The combination of Carthamus tinctorius extract (CTE) and notoginseng total saponins (NGTS), namely, CNP, presents a synergistic effect on myocardial ischemia protection. Herein, comparative pharmacokinetic studies between CNP and CTE/NGTS were conducted to clarify their synergistic mechanisms. A large volume direct injection ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LVDI-UHPLC-MS/MS) platform was developed for sensitively assaying the multi-component pharmacokinetic and in vitro cocktail assay of cytochrome p450 (CYP450) before and after compatibility of CTE and NGTS. The pharmacokinetic profiles of six predominantly efficacious components of CNP, including hydroxysafflor yellow A (HSYA); ginsenosides Rg₁ (GRg₁), Re (GRe), Rb₁ (GRb₁), and Rd (GRd); and notoginsenoside R₁ (NGR₁), were obtained, and the results disclosed that CNP could increase the exposure levels of HSYA, GRg₁, GRe, GRb₁, and NGR₁ at varying degrees. The in vitro cocktail assay demonstrated that CNP exhibited more potent inhibition on CYP1A2 than CTE and NGTS, and GRg₁, GRb₁, GRd, quercetin, kaempferol, and 6-hydroxykaempferol were found to be the major inhibitory compounds. The developed pharmacokinetic interaction-based strategy provides a viable orientation for the compatibility investigation of herb medicines.

Rapid Differentiation of Asian and American Ginseng by Differential Ion Mobility Spectrometry-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Using Stepwise Modulation of Gas Modifier Concentration

This study reports a rapid and robust method for the differentiation of Asian and American ginseng samples based on differential ion mobility spectrometry-tandem mass spectrometry (DMS-MS/MS). Groups of bioactive ginsenoside/pseudo-ginsenoside isomers, including Rf/Rg₁/F₁₁, Rb₂/Rb₃/Rc, and Rd/Re, in the ginseng extracts were sequentially separated using DMS with stepwise changes in the gas modifier concentration prior to MS analysis. The identities of the spatially separated ginsenoside/pseudo-ginsenoside isomers were confirmed by their characteristic compensation voltages at specific modifier loading and MS/MS product ions. As expected, Asian ginseng samples contained some Rf and an insignificant amount of F₁₁, whereas American ginseng samples had a high level of F₁₁ but no Rf. The origin of the whole and sliced ginseng could further be confirmed using the quantitative ratios of three sets of ginsenoside markers, namely, Rg₁/Re, Rb₁/Rg₁, and Rb₂/Rc. Based on our results, new benchmark ratios of Rg₁/Re < 0.15, Rb₁/Rg₁ > 2.15, and Rb₂/Rc < 0.26 were proposed for American ginseng (as opposed to Asian ginseng).

Pharmacokinetics study of 16 representative components from Baoyuan Decoction in rat plasma by LC-MS/MS with a large-volume direct injection method

BACKGROUND

Baoyuan decoction (BYD), a well-known traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, is clinically used for the treatment of aplastic anemia, chronic renal failure, coronary heart disease, etc. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a large-volume direct injection liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method for simultaneous determination of 16 representative flavonoids and saponins in rat plasma after oral administration of BYD.

METHODS

The rat plasma sample was injected directly into a pre-column, which was eluted firstly by 0.05% formic acid in water. Then, the accumulated components were eluted from the pre-column and transferred into a Waters BEH C18 column with acetonitrile and water system (contain 0.05% formic acid) as the mobile phase at a rate of 0.3 ml/min. The detection was accomplished in a negative mode using the schedule multiple-reaction monitoring (sMRM).

RESULTS

The correlation coefficients for calibration curves were all higher than 0.9920 for formononetin, ononin, calycosin, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, glycyrrhizic acid, glycyrrhetinic acid, liquiritin, isoliquiritin, liquiritin apioside, isoliquiritin apioside, ginsenoside Rb1, ginsenoside Re, ginsenoside Rd, ginsenoside Rg1 and astragaloside. The intra- and inter-day precisions (RSD) and accuracy (RE) for the investigated components were in the range of -10.9 to 13.7%. The average recoveries were in the range of 75.7-108.6%. This method was successfully applied to investigate the pharmacokinetics of 16 compounds of BYD in rats. The absorption and elimination rates of the representative saponins were significantly slower than most of the targeted-flavonoids after oral administration of BYD in rats.

CONCLUSION

The results demonstrated that the large-volume direct injection LC-MS method provided a rapid and efficient approach for multi-components pharmacokinetics of TCM.

A full solution for multi-component quantification-oriented quality assessment of herbal medicines, Chinese agarwood as a case

The quality of herbal medicines (HMs) is the prerequisite for their pronounced therapeutic outcomes in clinic, and multi-component (also known as quality markers, Q-markers) quantification has been widely emphasized as a viable means for quality evaluation. Because of the chemical diversity, the quality control practices are extensively dampened by four principal technical bottlenecks, including the lack of authentic compounds, large polarity span, extensive concentration range, and signal misrecognition for those potential Q-markers. An attempt to promote the potential of LC-MS/MS is made herein to cope with those obstacles and Chinese agarwood was employed as a case study. Firstly, a home-made fraction collector was introduced to automatically fragment the entire extract into a panel of fractions-of-interest. Secondly, quantitative ¹H-NMR was deployed to offset the LC-MS/MS potential towards in-depth chemical profiling each fraction, and those well-defined fractions were then pooled and combined with some accessible authentic compounds to generate the pseudo-mixed standard solution. Thirdly, serial improvements were conducted for LC-MS/MS measurements. Reversed phase LC and hydrophilic interaction LC were serially coupled in respond to the large polarity window, and online parameter optimization, response tailoring, as well as RRCEC (relative response vs. collision energy curve) matching were integrated in MS/MS domain to advance the quantitative confidences. Simultaneous determination was conducted for 26 components, in total, in Chinese agarwood after method validation. In particular, authentic compound-free quantification was achieved for eight 2-(2-phenylethyl)chromone derivatives. Above all, the strategy is a promising solution to completely tackle with the technical barriers toward Q-marker quantification-oriented quality control of Chinese agarwood, as well as other HMs.

An Integrated Strategy for Global Qualitative and Quantitative Profiling of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulas: Baoyuan Decoction as a Case

Clarification of the chemical composition of traditional Chinese medicine formulas (TCMFs) is a challenge due to the variety of structures and the complexity of plant matrices. Herein, an integrated strategy was developed by hyphenating ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF), hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (Qtrap-MS), and the novel post-acquisition data processing software UNIFI to achieve automatic, rapid, accurate, and comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis of the chemical components in TCMFs. As a proof-of-concept, the chemical profiling of Baoyuan decoction (BYD), which is an ancient TCMF that is clinically used for the treatment of coronary heart disease that consists of Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma, Astragali Radix, Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparata Cum Melle, and Cinnamomi Cortex, was performed. As many as 236 compounds were plausibly or unambiguously identified, and 175 compounds were quantified or relatively quantified by the scheduled multiple reaction monitoring (sMRM) method. The findings demonstrate that the strategy integrating the rapidity of UNIFI software, the efficiency of UPLC, the accuracy of Q-TOF-MS, and the sensitivity and quantitation ability of Qtrap-MS provides a method for the efficient and comprehensive chemome characterization and quality control of complex TCMFs.

Shenfu injection for improving cellular immunity and clinical outcome in patients with sepsis or septic shock

PURPOSE

To assess the efficacy of Shenfu injection (SFI) for enhancing cellular immunity and improving the clinical outcomes of patients with septic shock.

METHODS

Patients with sepsis were randomly assigned to receive either SFI at a dose of 100mL every 24hours for 7 consecutive days or a placebo in addition to conventional therapy. The immunologic parameters were collected on days 1, 3, and 7 after the above treatments, and the clinical outcomes were updated for 28days.

RESULTS

Of these160 patients, 3 were excluded from the analysis due to protocol violation and withdrawal of consent; thus, 157 completed the study (78 in the SFI group and 79 in the placebo group). We found that SFI increased both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in peripheral blood and up-regulated HLA-DR expression in monocytes (P<.05). Furthermore, SFI was also found to restore ex vivo monocytic tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin 6 proinflammatory cytokine release in response to the endotoxin (P<.05). Importantly, the SFI group showed better clinical outcomes than did the placebo group in terms of the duration of vasopressor use (P=.008), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score (P=.034), Marshall score (P=.01), and length of intensive care unit stay (10.5±3.2 vs 12.2±2.8days; P=.012). However, the 28-day mortality rate was not significantly different between the SFI (20.5%; 16/78) and placebo groups (27.8%; -22/79; P=.28).

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that SFI can enhance the cellular immunity of patients with septic shock and could be a promising adjunctive treatment for patients with septic shock.

Effects of Shenfu Injection in the Treatment of Septic Shock Patients: A Multicenter, Controlled, Randomized, Open-Label Trial

The effect of Shenfu on biochemical parameters and survival during resuscitation in patients with septic shock was examined. This was a multicenter, controlled, randomized, open-label trial carried out in 210 patients with septic shock from seven medical centers in China. They were randomized to Shenfu or saline. The primary outcome was lactate clearance. The secondary outcomes were shock index normalization, dose of vasopressors, ICU stay, hospital stay, and mortality. A total of 199 patients completed the trial. Blood pressure, heart rate, and other routine lab tests showed no difference between the groups. Lactate levels and lactate clearance were similar between the two groups. Hospital and ICU stay were similar between the two groups. When considering all patients, the 7- and 28-day mortality were similar between the two groups, but when considering only patients with lactate levels ≥4.5 mmol/L, the Shenfu group showed a better 7-day survival than the control group (7 days: 83.3% versus 54.5%, P = 0.034; 28 days: 72.7% versus 47.6%, P = 0.092). Shenfu may improve the 7-day survival in patients with impaired lactate clearance (≥4.5 mmol/L), but the mechanism for this effect is unclear. Additional studies are necessary to characterize the hemodynamic changes after Shenfu infusion. This trial is registered with ChiCTR-TRC-11001369.

Chromatographic analysis of Polygalae Radix by online hyphenating pressurized liquid extraction

Practicing “green analytical chemistry” is of great importance when profiling the chemical composition of complex matrices. Herein, a novel hybrid analytical platform was developed for direct chemical analysis of complex matrices by online hyphenating pressurized warm water extraction followed by turbulent flow chromatography coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (PWWE-TFC-LC-MS/MS). Two parallel hollow guard columns acted as extraction vessels connected to a long narrow polyether ether ketone tube, while warm water served as extraction solvent and was delivered at a flow rate of 2.5 mL/min to generate considerable back pressure at either vessel. A column oven heated both the solvent and crude materials. A TFC column, which is advantageous for the comprehensive trapping of small molecular substances from fluids under turbulent flow conditions, was employed to transfer analytes from the PWWE module to LC-MS/MS. Two electronic valves alternated each vessel between extraction and elution phases. As a proof-of-concept, a famous herbal medicine for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, namely Polygalae Radix, was selected for the qualitative and quantitative analyses. The results suggest that the hybrid platform is advantageous in terms of decreasing time, material, and solvent consumption and in its automation, versatility, and environmental friendliness.

p-sulfonated calix[8]arene functionalized graphene as a "turn on" fluorescent sensing platform for aconitine determination

This work reports a novel method for the determination of aconitine through the competitive host-guest interaction between p-sulfonated calix[8]arene (SCX8) and signal probe/target molecules by using SCX8 functionalized reduced graphene oxide (SCX8-RGO) as a receptor. Three dyes (ST, RhB, BRB) and aconitine were selected as the probe and target molecules, respectively. The formation of SCX8-RGO·ST, SCX8-RGO·RhB, and SCX8-RGO·BRB complexes greatly decreases the fluorescence emission of ST, RhB, and BRB. The aconitine/SCX8 complex possesses a higher binding constant than ST/SCX8, RhB/SCX8, and BRB/SCX8 complexes, thus the dye in the SCX8 cavity can be replaced by aconitine to revert the fluorescence emission of SCX8-RGO·dye, leading to a "switch-on" fluorescence response. The fluorescence intensity of SCX8-RGO·ST, SCX8-RGO·RhB, and SCX8-RGO·BRB complexes increased linearly with increasing concentration of aconitine ranging from 1.0 to 14.0μM, 2.0-16.0μM, and 1.0-16.0μM, respectively. Based on the competitive host-guest interaction, the proposed detection method for aconitine showed detection limits of 0.28μM, 0.60μM, and 0.37μM, respectively, and was successfully applied for the determination of aconitine in human serum samples with good recoveries from 95.1% to 104.8%. The proposed method showed high selectivity for aconitine beyond competitive binding analytes. In addition, the inclusion complex of the SCX8/aconitine was studied by the molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation, which indicated that the phenyl ester group of the aconitine molecule was included into the SCX8 cavity.

Sensitive profiling of phenols, bile acids, sterols, and eicosanoids in mammalian urine by large volume direct injection-online solid phase extraction-ultra high performance liquid chromatography-polarity switching tandem mass spectrometry

A new sensitive LVDI-online SPE-UHPLC-psMS/MS method was developed and applied for simultaneous and direct determination of 28 constituents, including 10 BAs, 5 sterols, 8 eicosanoids and 8 phenolic compounds in mammalian urinary samples.

Large-scale qualitative and quantitative characterization of components in Shenfu injection by integrating hydrophilic interaction chromatography, reversed phase liquid chromatography, and tandem mass spectrometry

It is of great importance to clarify in depth the chemical composition, including qualitative and quantitative aspects, of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) injection that contains a great number of hydrophilic and hydrophobic ingredients to guarantee its safe medication in clinic. Column-switching hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-reversed phase liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-RPLC-MS/MS) has been revealed to be advantageous at simultaneous measurement of compounds covering a broad polarity range. Previous studies have profiled the hydrophobic components, mainly aconite alkaloids and ginsenosides, in Shenfu Injection (SFI); however, the hydrophilic substances haven't been taken into account. In the present study, we aim to holistically characterize the hydrophilic constituents and to simultaneously quantitate both hydrophilic and hydrophobic components in SFI. A strategy integrating predefined multiple reaction monitoring, step-wise multiple ion monitoring, and enhanced product ion scans was proposed to universally screen the hydrophilic substances using a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometer. Structural identification was carried out by comparing with authentic compounds, analyzing MS(2) spectra, and referring to accessible databases (e.g., MassBank, METLIN and HMDB). A total of 157 hydrophilic compounds were detected from SFI, and 154 ones were identified as amino acids, nucleosides, organic acid, carbohydrates, etc. A column-switching HILIC-RPLC-MS/MS system was developed and validated for simultaneously quantitative analysis of 40 primary hydrophilic and hydrophobic ingredients in SFI, including eleven amino acids, nine nucleosides, nine aconite alkaloids, and eleven ginsenosides. Taken together, the findings obtained could provide meaningful information for comprehensively understanding the chemical composition and offer a reliable approach for the quality control of SFI.

Potential of hyphenated ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-scheduled multiple reaction monitoring algorithm for large-scale quantitative analysis of traditional Chinese medicines

The combination of a core–shell ADME column with a sMRM algorithm offers the potential for large-scale quantitative analysis of the components in TCMs by providing not only high quality quantitative signals but also reliable MS² spectra.

Pharmacokinetics and safety of the multiple constituents of Shuanghua Baihe tablets in healthy subjects

It is the first clinical study to investigate the pharmacokinetics and safety of the multiple constituents of Shuanghua Baihe tablets in humans by LC-MS/MS.