Qualitative and quantitative analysis of chemical components in Qianggan capsule by UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS and LC-sMRM

Qianggan capsule (QGC) is a complex preparation composed of 16 traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) that can clear heat and dampness, fortify the spleen and blood, typify qi and relieve depression. However, the chemical composition of QGC remains incompletely understood, despite its clinical use in treating chronic hepatitis and liver injury. The objective of this study was to explore the quality markers of QGC through qualitative and quantitative analysis of its chemical components. First, the chemical composition of QGC was qualitatively analyzed using UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. Subsequently, the LC-sMRM method was developed and optimized to accurately quantify various chemical components of 10 batches of QGC. Finally, the variations in chemical components between batches were analyzed via multivariate statistical analysis. UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS analysis revealed 167 chemical constituents in QGC, comprised of 48 flavonoids, 32 terpenoids, 18 phenolic acids, 9 coumarins, 9 phenylpropanoids, and 51 nucleosides, sugars, amino acids, anthraquinones, and other compounds. The LC-sMRM method was established for the quantitative analysis of 42 chemical components in 10 batches of QGC. The ultrasonic-assisted extraction parameters were optimized using RSM. Compared with conventional MRM, sMRM demonstrated superior sensitivity and precision. PCA and OPLS-DA identified eight chemical components with content differences among batches. This study established the chemical composition of QGC, offering useful guidance for assessing its quality.

Rapid chemical characterization and pharmacological mechanism of Fining Granules in the treatment of chronic bronchitis based on UHPLC-Q-exactive orbitrap mass spectrometer and network pharmacology

Background

Senecio cannabifolius Less. is a perennial herb belonging to the Compositae family that has been used in traditional medicine as an antitussive and expectorant for treating chronic bronchitis and acute respiratory infections. Traditionally, Feining Granules are prepared from water extracts of the raw plant material. However, the chemical composition and pharmacological mechanisms of Feining Granules have not been thoroughly investigated.

Methods

A systematic strategy for the rapid detection and identification of the constituents of Feining Granules was developed using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-exactive orbitrap mass spectrometry (MS) with parallel reaction monitoring.

Results

Overall, 162 compounds, including flavonoids, alkaloids, organic acids, and others, were identified unambiguously and tentatively by comparing the retention times and MS fragmentation with reference standards and literature data. Ninety-nine of these were reported for the first time to the best of our knowledge. Network pharmacology suggests that Feining Granules can be used to treat chronic bronchitis as they contain active components associated with the ALB, VEGFA, and SRC target genes influenced by HIF-1, VEGF, and other signaling pathways.

Conclusion

These results provide information that can help understand the effective substances of S. cannabifolius Less. and improve quality control.

A mechanistic exploration of the metabolome of African mango seeds and its potential to alleviate cognitive impairment induced by high-fat/high-carbohydrate diets: Involvement of PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β/CREB, PERK/CHOP/Bcl-2, and AMPK/SIRT-1/mTOR Axes

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Irvingia gabonensis (Aubry-Lecomte ex O'Rorke) Baill., also known as "African mango" or "bush mango", belonging to family Irvingiaceae, has been mostly used as food and traditional medicine for weight loss and to enhance the health.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The overconsumption of high-fat and high-carbohydrate (HFHC) food induces oxidative stress, leading to neurological and cognitive dysfunction. Consequently, there is an immediate need for effective treatment. Hence, this study explored the efficacy of orlistat, metformin, and I. gabonensis seeds' total aqueous extract (IG SAE) in addressing HFHC-induced cognitive impairment by mitigating oxidative stress and their underlying mechanistic pathways.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Initially, the secondary metabolite profile of IG SAE is determined using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a mass detector (UHPLC/MS). The in vivo study involves two phases: an established model phase with control (10 rats on a standard diet) and HFHC diet group (50 rats) for 3 months. In the study phase, HFHC is divided into 5 groups. The first subgroup receives HFHC diet only, while the remaining groups each receive HFHC diet with either Orlistat, metformin, or IG SAE at doses of 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg, respectively, for 28 days.

RESULTS

More than 150 phytoconstituents were characterized for the first holistic approach onto IG metabolome. Characterization of IG SAE revealed that tannins dominate metabolites in the plant. Total phenolics and flavonoids were estimated to standardize our extract (77.12 ± 7.09 μg Gallic acid equivalent/mg extract and 8.039 ± 0.53 μg Rutin equivalent/mg extract, respectively). Orlistat, metformin, and IG SAE successfully reduced the body weight, blood glucose level, lipid profile, oxidative stress and neurotransmitters levels leading to improved behavioral functions as well as histological alternation. Also, IG SAE halted inflammation, apoptosis, and endoplasmic reticulum stress, together with promoting autophagy, via modulation of PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β/CREB, PERK/CHOP/Bcl-2 and AMPK/SIRT-1/m-TOR pathways.

CONCLUSION

Metformin, orlistat, and IG SAE offer a promising multi-target therapy to mitigate HFHC diet-induced oxidative stress, addressing cognitive function. This involves diverse molecular mechanisms, particularly the modulation of inflammation, ER stress, and both PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β/CREB and AMPK/SIRT-1/m-TOR pathways. Furthermore, the higher dose of IG SAE demonstrated effects comparable to orlistat and metformin across most studied parameters.

Insight into chemical basis of traditional Chinese medicine based on the state-of-the-art techniques of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been an indispensable source of drugs for curing various human diseases. However, the inherent chemical diversity and complexity of TCM restricted the safety and efficacy of its usage. Over the past few decades, the combination of liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry has contributed greatly to the TCM qualitative analysis. And novel approaches have been continuously introduced to improve the analytical performance, including both the data acquisition methods to generate a large and informative dataset, and the data post-processing tools to extract the structure-related MS information. Furthermore, the fast-developing computer techniques and big data analytics have markedly enriched the data processing tools, bringing benefits of high efficiency and accuracy. To provide an up-to-date review of the latest techniques on the TCM qualitative analysis, multiple data-independent acquisition methods and data-dependent acquisition methods (precursor ion list, dynamic exclusion, mass tag, precursor ion scan, neutral loss scan, and multiple reaction monitoring) and post-processing techniques (mass defect filtering, diagnostic ion filtering, neutral loss filtering, mass spectral trees similarity filter, molecular networking, statistical analysis, database matching, etc.) were summarized and categorized. Applications of each technique and integrated analytical strategies were highlighted, discussion and future perspectives were proposed as well.

Pharmacokinetics/pharmacometabolomics-pharmacodynamics reveals the synergistic mechanism of a multicomponent herbal formula, Baoyuan decoction against cardiac hypertrophy

Multicomponent herbal formulas (MCHFs) have earned a wide reputation for their definite efficacy in preventing or treating chronic complex diseases. However, holistic elucidation of the causal relationship between the bioavailable ingredients of MCHFs and their multitarget interactions is very challenging. To solve this problem, pharmacokinetics/pharmacometabolomics-pharmacodynamics (PK/PM-PD) combined with a multivariate biological correlation-network strategy was developed and applied to a classic MCHF, Baoyuan decoction (BYD), to clarify its active components and synergistic mechanism against cardiac hypertrophy (CH). First, multiple plasma metabolic biomarkers for β-adrenergic agonist-induced CH rats were identified by using untargeted metabolomic profiling, and then, these CH-associated endogenous metabolites and the absorbed BYD-compounds in plasma at different treatment stages after oral administration of BYD were analyzed by using targeted PK and PM. Second, the dynamic relationship of BYD-related compounds and CH-associated endogenous metabolites and signaling pathways was built by using multivariate and bioinformatic correlation analysis. Finally, metabolic-related PD indicators were predicted and further verified by biological tests. The results demonstrated that the bioavailable BYD-compounds, such as saponins and flavonoids, presented differentiated and distinctive metabolic features and showed positive or negative correlations with various CH-altered metabolites and PD-indicators related to gut microbiota metabolism, amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, energy homeostasis, and oxidative stress at different treatment stages. This study provides a novel strategy for investigating the dynamic interaction between BYD and the biosystem, providing unique insight for disclosing the active components and synergistic mechanisms of BYD against CH, which also supplies a reference for other MCHF related research.

Molecular networking aided metabolomic profiling of beet leaves using three extraction solvents and in relation to its anti-obesity effects

In the present study, the efficiency of three different solvents (H2O, acidified H2O, and 70% Methanol) for metabolites extraction from the leaves of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris var. rubra) was investigated along with their inhibitory activity on pancreatic α-amylase and lipase for obesity management. The metabolic profile of the three extracts was analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with electrospray ionization high-resolution mass spectrometric (ESI-HRMS-MS). Mass spectrometry-based molecular networking was employed to aid in metabolites annotation and for the visual investigation of the known metabolites and their analogues. The study led to the tentative identification of 45 metabolites including amino acids, purine derivatives, phenolic acids, flavonoids, fatty acids, and an alkaloid, articulating 24 compounds as a first time report from beet leaves along with 2 new putatively identified compounds: a flavone feruloyl conjugate (39) and a malonylated acacetin diglycoside (40). The three extracting systems exhibited comparable efficiency for pulling out the secondary metabolites from the beet leaves. The in vitro study supported this finding and demonstrated that the three extracts inhibited the activity of both pancreatic α-amylase and lipase enzymes with no significant difference observed regarding the percentage of the inhibition of the enzymes. Conclusively, the extraction protocol has a minimal effect on the anti-obesity properties of beet leaves.

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.

Method development and application for multi-component quantification in rats after oral administration of Longxuetongluo Capsule by UHPLC-MS/MS

Although wide applications towards ischemic stroke in clinic, the therapeutic materials of Longxuetongluo Capsule (LTC) that is composed of total phenolic extract of Chinese dragon's blood, are still largely unclear. Exposure pattern characterization of those drug-derived components in vivo, notably in circulation system has been recommended as a viable approach to disclose the effective components of a given herbal medicine. Herein, we aimed to develop a robust method being capable of multi-component quantification in either rat plasma or tissues following oral administration of LTC, and to clarify the kinetic profiles of 11 primary drug-derived phenolic derivatives. Proteins precipitation was carried out for the plasma as well as homogenized tissue samples with acetonitrile. Chromatographic separations were achieved using UHPLC equipped with a shim-pack XR-ODS II column, and confidence-enhanced detection was accomplished through the joint employment of selected-reaction monitoring and tandem mass spectrometry (SRM-MS/MS) on a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometer. Diverse validation assays proved the method to be sensitive, precise, and rapid for simultaneous determination of those 11 components. Pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution investigations were subsequently conducted in rat after a single 500 mg/kg oral dose. Rapid absorption (T_max, 11.53-68.27 min) and elimination (T_1/2, 6.893-57.90 min) occurred for all analytes-of-interest. Extensive occurrences were observed for 7,4'-dihydroxy-5-methoxyhomoisoflavanone (C_max, 340.0 ng/mL), thevetiaflavone (C_max, 42.86 ng/mL), 5,7,4'-trihydroxyhomoisoflavanone (C_max, 41.55 ng/mL), and pterostilbene (C_max, 25.49 ng/mL) in plasma. Significant distributions occurred for all analytes in the liver as well as kidney, and several compounds could be found in brain. The findings described are envisioned to provide promising information for the in-depth clarification of the therapeutic entities, and also to offer a practical approach for therapeutic drug monitoring of LTC in clinic.

Simultaneous Determination of Twenty-Five Compounds in Rat Plasma Using Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Polarity Switching Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Its Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study

An attempt was made to characterize the pharmacokinetic profiles of Qishen Keli (QSKL) that has been widely proved to be effective in clinical practice. A method using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous determination of 25 analytes in rat plasma was developed and validated. Satisfactory chromatographic separation was achieved on an ACQUITY UPLC HSS T3 column with gradient elution using mobile phase consisting of 0.02% aqueous formic acid (A) and acetonitrile fortified with 0.02% formic acid (B), and analyte detection was carried out using polarity-switching multiple reaction monitoring mode. Method validation assays in terms of selectivity, linearity, inter- and intra-day variations, matrix effect, and recovery demonstrated the newly developed method to be specific, sensitive, accurate, and precise. Following the oral administration of QSKL at a single dose, the qualified method was successfully applied for pharmacokinetic investigations in sham and model rats. Mild differences occurred for the pharmacokinetic patterns of most components between those two groups, whereas significant differences were observed for glycyrrhizic acid and glycyrrhetic acid. The obtained findings could provide meaningful information for the clarification of the effective material basis of QSKL.

Polarity-extended quantitative analysis of bear bile and its analogues using serially coupled reversed phase-hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tailored multiple reaction monitoring

Polarity-extended quantitative analysis of bear bile and its analogues was achieved using serially coupled reversed phase-hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tailored multiple reaction monitoring.

New instrumentation for large-scale quantitative analysis of components spanning a wide polarity range by column-switching hydrophilic interaction chromatography-turbulent flow chromatography-reversed phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

New instrumentation, namely column-switching HILIC-TFC-RPLC-MS/MS, was configured for large-scale quantitative analysis of components spanning a wide polarity range in a mimic complicated sample.

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.

Integrated work-flow for quantitative metabolome profiling of plants, Peucedani Radix as a case

Universal acquisition of reliable information regarding the qualitative and quantitative properties of complicated matrices is the premise for the success of metabolomics study. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is now serving as a workhorse for metabolomics; however, LC-MS-based non-targeted metabolomics is suffering from some shortcomings, even some cutting-edge techniques have been introduced. Aiming to tackle, to some extent, the drawbacks of the conventional approaches, such as redundant information, detector saturation, low sensitivity, and inconstant signal number among different runs, herein, a novel and flexible work-flow consisting of three progressive steps was proposed to profile in depth the quantitative metabolome of plants. The roots of Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn (Peucedani Radix, PR) that are rich in various coumarin isomers, were employed as a case study to verify the applicability. First, offline two dimensional LC-MS was utilized for in-depth detection of metabolites in a pooled PR extract namely universal metabolome standard (UMS). Second, mass fragmentation rules, notably concerning angular-type pyranocoumarins that are the primary chemical homologues in PR, and available databases were integrated for signal assignment and structural annotation. Third, optimum collision energy (OCE) as well as ion transition for multiple monitoring reaction measurement was online optimized with a reference compound-free strategy for each annotated component and large-scale relative quantification of all annotated components was accomplished by plotting calibration curves via serially diluting UMS. It is worthwhile to highlight that the potential of OCE for isomer discrimination was described and the linearity ranges of those primary ingredients were extended by suppressing their responses. The integrated workflow is expected to be qualified as a promising pipeline to clarify the quantitative metabolome of plants because it could not only holistically provide qualitative information, but also straightforwardly generate accurate quantitative dataset.

An integrated platform for directly widely-targeted quantitative analysis of feces part I: Platform configuration and method validation

Direct analysis is of great importance to understand the real chemical profile of a given sample, notably biological materials, because either chemical degradation or diverse errors and uncertainties might be resulted from sophisticated protocols. In comparison with biofluids, it is still challenging for direct analysis of solid biological samples using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Herein, a new analytical platform was configured by online hyphenating pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), turbulent flow chromatography (TFC), and LC-MS/MS. A facile, but robust PLE module was constructed based on the phenomenon that noticeable back-pressure can be generated during rapid fluid passing through a narrow tube. TFC column that is advantageous at extracting low molecular analytes from rushing fluid was employed to link at the outlet of the PLE module to capture constituents-of-interest. An electronic 6-port/2-position valve was introduced between TFC column and LC-MS/MS to fragment each measurement into extraction and elution phases, whereas LC-MS/MS took the charge of analyte separation and monitoring. As a proof of concept, simultaneous determination of 24 endogenous substances including eighteen steroids, five eicosanoids, and one porphyrin in feces was carried out in this paper. Method validation assays demonstrated the analytical platform to be qualified for directly simultaneous measurement of diverse endogenous analytes in fecal matrices. Application of this integrated platform on homolog-focused profiling of feces is discussed in a companion paper.

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.