ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To improve the quality standard of Yi medicine Gynura japonica， and to evaluate its quality. METHODS Using 15 batches of G. japonica from different producing areas as samples， the contents of water， total ash， acid- insoluble ash and water-soluble extract were determined according to the method stated in part Ⅳ of Chinese Pharmacopoeia （2020 edition）. The contents of total alkaloid （calculated by senecionine） was determined by UV spectrophotometry. The contents of senecionine and seneciphylline were determined by HPLC. Using above 7 indexes as evaluation indexes， cluster heat map analysis， principal component analysis （PCA） and entropy weight approximation ideal ranking （TOPSIS） were used to evaluate the quality of medicinal material comprehensively. RESULTS Among 15 batches of G. japonica， the moisture contents were 8.88%-12.60%， the total ash contents were 4.43%-11.02%， the acid-insoluble ash contents were 0.56%-3.45%， the water-soluble extract contents were 21.71%-53.91%， the total alkaloid contents （calculated by senecionine） were 0.15%-0.39%， and the contents of senecionine and seneciphylline were 0.01% -0.05% and 0.01%-0.06% respectively. According to the results of various indicators， it was preliminarily proposed that the water content in the sample of G. japonica should not exceed 13.00%， the total ash content should not exceed 11.50%， the acid-insoluble ash content should not exceed 3.70%， the water-soluble extract should not be less than 20.70%， the total alkaloid content should not be less than 0.15%， the contents of senecionine and seneciphylline should not be less than 0.01% both. The results of cluster heat map analysis showed that the 15 batches of samples could be divided into four categories； the results of PCA and TOPSIS showed that the samples with high-quality ranking were jsq-2， jsq-5， jsq-6 and jsq-10， and the samples with low-quality ranking were jsq-4， jsq-13 and jsq-14. CONCLUSIONS In this study， the quantitative analysis method of total alkaloids （calculated by senecionine）， senecionine and seneciphylline in G. japonica is established， and the limits of each index are preliminarily determined. Among 15 batches of samples， the qualities of medicinal material collected from Linza Village of Ganluo County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture， Machangping Village of Luojishan Town of Puge County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture and other places are better.
ABSTRACT
Recently, hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (HSOS) induced by misuse of Gynura japonica has increased and gained global attention. Large amounts of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are present in G. japonica; these PAs are metabolically activated to generate pyrrole-protein adducts (PPAs). In this study, male SD rats were treated orally with a single dose of G. japonica extract (GJE) at 0.062 5, 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2 g·kg-1. Blood was collected from the orbital venous plexus at 2, 12, 24 and 48 h, and at 48 h after treatment the rats were anesthetized with isoflurane and livers were collected for hematoxylin & eosin staining. The kinetics of PPAs at different doses were studied at 10, 20, 30 min, 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24 h, and 48 h, after a single gavage of GJE. The experimental scheme was approved by the ethics committee of animal experiments of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (PZSHUTCM190912019). The concentration of PPAs in serum was determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Kinetic data were processed by using the non-compartmental pharmacokinetics data analysis software program PK solutions 2™. The results demonstrate that the concentration of PPAs increased with the dose of GJE and positively correlated with the severity of liver injury. The elimination rate of PPAs in rats was significantly prolonged at higher doses. The level of PPAs and their clearance rate may serve as useful references for the detoxification of PAs-induced injuries.