Investigation of the Effect of Rice Wine on the Metabolites of the Main Components of Herbal Medicine in Rat Urine by Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole/Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry: A Case Study on Cornus officinalis

Preliminary investigation on the analysis of the whole components of Pogejiuxin decoction and its formulation pattern based on ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

RATIONAL

Pogejiuxin decoction (PGJXD) is one of the most important formulas for the treatment of heart failure. However, there is a great lack of research on the material basis of this formula, especially research on its compatibility laws, which restricts its clinical use. Studying the complete ingredients and compatibility rules of PGJXD has great significance for guiding clinical medication.

METHODS

The entire formula, the major single herbs, the drug pairs and the disassembled formula were analyzed by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC/QTOFMS/MS), matching the chemical composition database and global natural product social molecular networking to explain the chemical composition as well as the combination pattern of PGJXD.

RESULTS

A total of 1048 chemical constituents were fully analyzed from the major single herbs, the drug pairs and the disassembled formula and 188 chemical constituents, including 13 potential novel compounds, were firstly identified from the whole formula. We found that the chemical compositions were reduced after the single herbs were matched to the other herbs, especially the significant reduction of highly toxic diester alkaloids after compatibility, indicating that the medicines of PGJXD were interdependent and controlled by each other.

CONCLUSION

This study innovatively researches and compares the compositional differences between the entire formula of PGJXD, the single, paired and separated formulas, greatly extending our understanding of the chemical substance basis of these compounds, and preliminarily explores the compatibility laws of PGJXD, providing some theoretical guidance for clinical medication.

Quality evaluation of raw and processed Corni Fructus by UHPLC-QTOF-MS and HPLC coupled with color determination

Corni Fructus (CF), used for thousands of years in Asia as food and medicine, has different therapeutic effects before and after processing. In the past work, the quality assessment of Corni Fructus focused on the limited chemical compounds and rarely correlated external properties, such as color. The traditional sensory assessment relies partly on human eyes, which is quick but lacks objectivity. On a Shimadzu LC-20AD liquid chromatograph system equipped with a diode-array detector (DAD), we determined six major compounds (gallic acid, 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde, morroniside, loganin, sweroside, and cornuside I). The extract was analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) after the solid-phase extraction (SPE) step. Totally 58 compounds in raw and processed Corni Fructus were identified in negative and positive ion modes according to tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) fragments. Iridoids, carboxylic acids, tannins, flavonoids, triterpenes, fatty acids, saccharides, phospholipids, polysaccharide, amino acid, amide, furan, catechol, aldehyde, fatty alcohol and vitamin were included. A multivariate statistical analysis based on UHPLC-QTOF-MS filtered 17 differential compounds between raw and processed products. The CM-5 colorimeter was applied for digitizing surface and powder color. The contents of gallic acid, morroniside, loganin, cornuside I, and sweroside significantly correlated with color parameters in raw Corni Fructus, particularly adp* and bdp* , but not in processed products, according to Spearman correlation analysis. MS peak area of four compounds in raw products correlated significantly with color parameters Ldp* , adp* , bdp* , Lpd* , apd* , bpd* , respectively, while three compounds in processed products with Lpd* , apd* , bpd* . It revealed the relationship between compounds and color of Corni Fructus and the crucial compounds to color. In this study, we successfully developed a method for comprehensive quality evaluation of Corni Fructus that combines HPLC, UHPLC-QTOF-MS, and color determination.