An efficient method for rapid screening of triterpenoid saponins in three Glycyrrhiza species using rapid resolution liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry combined with mass defect filtering.

Triterpenoid saponins, a major bioactive component of liquorice, possess high hydrophilicity and often co-occur with other impurities of similar polarity. Additionally, subtle structural differences of some triterpenoid saponins bring challenges to comprehensive characterisation. In this study, triterpenoid saponins of three Glycyrrhiza species were systematically analysed using rapid resolution liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (RRLC-Q-TOF-MS) coupled with mass defect filtering (MDF). Firstly, comprehensive date acquisition was achieved using RRLC-Q-TOF-MS. Secondly, a polygonal MDF method was established by summarizing known and speculated substituents and modifications based on the core structure to rapidly screen potential triterpenoid saponins. Thirdly, based on the fragmentation patterns of reference compounds, an identification strategy for characterisation of triterpenoid saponins was proposed. The strategy divided triterpenoid saponins into three distinct classes. By this strategy, 98 triterpenoid saponins including 10 potential new ones were tentatively characterised. Finally, triterpenoid saponins of three Glycyrrhiza species were further analysed using principle component analysis (PCA) and orthogonality partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Among these, 18 compounds with variable importance in projections (VIP) > 1.0 and P values < 0.05 were selected to distinguish three Glycyrrhiza species. Overall, our study provided a reference for quality control and rational use of the three species.

Geoherbalism Metabolomic Analysis of Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. by LC-Triple TOF-MS/MS and GC-MS.

The rhizome of Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. (AL), called Maocangzhu in Chinese, is a geoherbalism medical herb in Jiangsu Province that is often used in the prescription of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), such as for the treatment of COVID-19. The landform and climatic environment of each province varies greatly from south to north, which has an important influence on the chemical constituents in AL. However, there is a lack of research on the significance of its geoherbalism, especially in water-soluble parts other than volatile oil. In this study, eight known compounds were isolated and obtained as reference substances from AL. In addition, liquid chromatography coupled with triple-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (LC-triple TOF-MS/MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to analyze and characterize chemical constituents from different habitats. Moreover, orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was applied to reveal the differential metabolomics in AL from different habitats based on the qualitative information of the chemical constituents. Results showed that a total of 33 constituents from GC-MS and 106 constituents from LC-triple TOF-MS/MS were identified or inferred, including terpenoids, polyacetylenes, and others; meanwhile, the fragmentation pathways of different types of compounds were preliminarily deduced from the fragmentation behavior of the major constituents. According to the variable importance in projection (VIP) and p-values, only one volatile differential metabolite was identified by GC-MS screening: ß-eudesmol. Overall, five differential metabolites were identified by LC-triple TOF-MS/MS screening: sucrose, 4(15),11-eudesmadiene; atractylenolide I, 3,5,11-tridecatriene-7,9-diyne-1,2-diacetate, and (3Z,5E,11E)-tridecatriene-7,9-diynyl-1-O-(E)-ferulate. This study provides metabolomic information for the establishment of a comprehensive quality evaluation system for AL.

A novel strategy to identify the species-specific peptide biomarkers in Pheretima aspergillum (E. Perrier) based on enzymatic digestion followed by LC-MS/MS methods.

Guang Dilong [P. aspergillum (E. Perrier)], is an animal-derived traditional Chinese medicine made from the dried body of Pheretima aspergillum (E. Perrier) (TCM). Due to its widely application and high medical values, preparations of P. aspergillum (E. Perrier) may be adulterated by four other species, including three crucial Pheretima species [P. vulgaris (Chen), P. pectinifera (Mkhaeken), and P. guillemi (Michaelsen)] and one considerable adulteration [Metaphire magna (Chen)]. This study developed a novel and effective strategy for analyzing and authenticating Guang Dilong based on enzymatic digestion of protein. The nanoLC-MS/MS technique used to evaluate complete peptidomics profiles of trypsin-digested samples, resulting in the identification of species-specific peptide biomarkers in P. aspergillum (E. Perrier). The significance of different samples and peptides in the target species set was then investigated using mathematical set theory. Consequently, seven peptides were chosen as prospective biomarkers. Finally, five specific peptide biomarkers for differentiating Guang Dilong with other species were confirmed and validated using UFLC-MS/MS and MRM mode. The suggested technique may also be beneficial in evaluating the quality of other animal-derived goods for safety issues in order to avoid misidentification.

Quantitative analysis of nutrients for nucleosides, nucleobases, and amino acids hidden behind five distinct regions-derived Poria cocos using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple-quadrupole linear ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry.

Poria cocos is an edible fungus used as a health product and traditional Chinese medicinal preparation. Nevertheless, little is known about its nutrients. In this study, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple-quadrupole linear ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry was conducted to quantify nucleosides, nucleobases, and amino acids in 32 batches of Poria cocos samples collected from Anhui, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, and Guizhou. Subsequently, the linearity, precision, repeatability, stability, and recovery of our methods were validated. Samples from different regions were clearly separated by partial least squares discriminant analysis and cluster analysis. Our results suggested that Poria cocos samples from different geographical environments differed in nucleosides, nucleobases, and amino acids. The plot of variable importance for projection disclosed differential compositions of L-Leucine, Uridine, L-Asparagine, L-Glutamine, L-phenylalanine, L-Ornithine monohydrochloride, L-Hydroxyproline, Taurine, and Inosine in Poria cocos from five regions. We found the highest content of total analytes, total amino acids, and total non-essential amino acids in Poria cocos from Anhui, total essential amino acids in the Sichuan samples, and total nucleosides in the Hunan samples. Overall, we determined the content of Poria cocos-derived nucleosides, nucleobases, and amino acids, providing the foothold for further chemical mining and use of Poria cocos.

Pharmacokinetics-derived absorbed components responsible for Guizhi-Fuling capsule target PI3K/Akt-Erk to exert an anti-dysmenorrhea effect.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Guizhi-Fuling capsule (GZFL), a well-known herbal remedy, has been widely used to treat primary dysmenorrhea (PD). Hence, systematic identifying multiple active ingredients and the involved mechanism is essential and urgently needed for GZFL. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study was planned to assess the pharmacokinetics of GZFL in rats, and identify whether these GZFL-derived absorbed components (ACs) contribute to the efficacy of source herbs and relevant mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The in vivo pharmacokinetic profile of 11 phytochemicals and 13 metabolites in healthy and PD rats were evaluated using liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Whereafter, the introduced contribution strategy assessed ACs' effect (doses = their contents in GZFL) in PD rats with the mechanism. RESULT: The pharmacokinetic profiles of prototypes and metabolites differed in healthy and PD rats. As a main proxy of GZFL, 11ACs exerted an anti-PD effect (improvement of indexes for writhing latency, writhing time, PGF2α/PGE2, TXB2/6-keto-PGF1α and ß-EP) by regulating PI3K-Akt/ERK pathway. CONCLUSION: As a paradigmatic example, 11ACs contributed an average of 113.55% to GZFL in terms of anti-PD efficacy, providing an approach to rapidly, accurately and consistently identify the bioactive components and their pathway from herbs.

A hemicyanine-based fluorescent probe for simultaneous imaging of Carboxylesterases and Histone deacetylases in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Carboxylesterases (CESs) and Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are regarded as important signaling enzymes highly associated with the development and progression of multiple cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this work, a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe named Lys-HXPI was designed and synthesized, which linked a hemicyanine dye and 6-acetamidohexanoic acid via an ester bond. Lys-HXPI displayed a remarkable increase with a NIR emission at 720 nm, a low detection limit (<10 nM) for HDAC1, HDAC 6, CES1 and CES2, as well as a high selectivity for the target enzymes over other relevant analytes. Furthermore, Lys-HXPI was used to image endogenous target enzymes in living cells, tumor-bearing nude mice and tissue slices. The ability of Lys-HXPI to simultaneous image CESs and HDACs was demonstrated with RT-qPCR and the confocal imaging in Hep G2 and MDA-MB-231. Taking advantage of NIR emission, the probe was also successfully applied to imaging Hep G2 tumor mice and tissue slices. Lys-HXPI is expected to be useful for the effective detecting of CESs and HDACs in complex biosystems.

Identification of absorbed compounds of Xiao Yao San Jia Wei and pharmacokinetic study in depressed rats by force swimming stress.

Xiao-Yao-San-Jia-Wei (XYSJW) is a commonly prescribed formulation for depression and anorexia in the Jiang Su Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine. Unfortunately, the proper dosage of this formulation is still unclear due to its limited chemical and pharmacokinetic profiles. Thus, in the present study, a sensitive, precise, and rapid procedure for the identification of absorbed compounds (Cs) in the plasma of depressed rats together with a pharmacokinetic analysis was established with the help of ultra-flow liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UFLC-Q-TOF MS/MS) and ultra-flow liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (UFLC-QQQ MS/MS). Based on the characteristic fragmentation, neutral loss, mass defect filter, relevant literature and reference standards, 225 Cs in the XYSJW extract and 20 Cs in the plasma of the depressed rats were tentatively recognized via UFLC-Q-TOF MS/MS and UFLC-QQQ MS/MS. Then, the 12 major absorbed Cs in the depressed rats after oral XYSJW administration were chosen to further investigate its pharmacokinetic profile by UFLC-QQQ MS/MS. This study provides a systematic approach for the rapid and qualitative analysis of absorbed Cs in depressed rats and investigating the pharmacokinetics of XYSJW. More importantly, our work provides key information on the chemical and pharmacokinetic profiles of XYSJW in vitro and in vivo, which may benefit its therapeutic efficacy and further pharmacological studies involving this formulation.

An HDAC8-selective fluorescent probe for imaging in living tumor cell lines and tissue slices.

Histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8) has been used as a therapeutic target for many cancers as it is highly expressed in neuroblastoma cells and breast cancer cells. HDAC8-selective fluorescent probes need to be urgently developed. Herein, two novel fluorescent probes, namely NP-C6-PCI and AM-C6-PCI, based on the conjugation of 1,8-naphthalimide with a highly selective inhibitor of HDAC8 (PCI-34051) were reported. Compared with PCI-34051 (KD = 6.25 × 10-5 M), NP-C6-PCI (KD = 8.05 × 10-6 M) and AM-C6-PCI (KD = 7.42 × 10-6 M) showed great selectivity toward HDAC8. Two fluorescent probes exhibited high fluorescence intensity under λex = 450 nm and a large Stokes shift (100 nm). NP-C6-PCI was selected for cell and tissue imaging due to the similarity in the bioactivity of NP-C6-PCI with PCI-34051. The ability of NP-C6-PCI to target imaging HDAC8 in SH-SY5Y and MDA-MB-231 tumor cells was demonstrated. Furthermore, NP-C6-PCI was applied to imaging SH-SY5Y tumor tissue slices to indicate the relative expression level of HDAC8. Therefore, this HDAC8-selective fluorescent probe can be expected for applications in HDAC8-targeted drug screening as well as in pathologic diagnoses.

[Metabonomics research on lung tissue of rats with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treated with mineral Chinese medicine Chloriti Lapis].

To study the effect of mineral Chloriti Lapis on pulmonary metabolites and metabolic pathways in lung tissues of rats with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(AECOPD). The AECOPD rat model of phlegm heat syndrome was replicated by the method of smoking combined with Klebsiella pneumoniae infection. Except for using UPLC-Q-TOF-MS analysis, SPSS 18.0, SIMCA 13.0 and other software were also used for statistical analysis. Through literature search and online database comparison, the differential metabolites were identified, and the possible metabolic pathways were analyzed. After 15 days of administration, PLS-DA analysis was carried out on lung tissue samples of rats in each group. The results showed that the metabolic profiles of lung tissues of rats in each group could be well separated, which indicated that Chloriti Lapis and aminophylline had significant intervention effect on the lung metabolic profile of rats with AECOPD. Moreover, the metabolic profile of Chloriti Lapis group was closer to that of control group, and the intervention effect was better than that of aminophylline group. As a result, 15 potential differential metabolites were identified: phytosphingosine, sphinganine, tetradecanoylcarnitine, L-palmitoylcarnitine, elaidic carnitine, lysoPC[18∶2(9Z,12Z)], lysoPC(16∶0), lysoPC[18∶1(9Z)], lysoPC(18∶0), stearic acid, lysoPC(15∶0), arachidonic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, linoleic acid and palmitic acid. Among them, Chloriti Lapis could significantly improve the levels of 10 differential metabolites of phytosphingosine, tetradecanoylcarnitine, L-palmitoylcarnitine, elaidic carnitine, lysoPC[18∶2(9Z,12Z)], lysoPC(16∶0), lysoPC[18∶1(9Z)], stearic acid, lysoPC(15∶0), and palmitic acid(P<0.05). The intervention effect of Chloriti Lapis group was better than that of aminophylline group. Analysis of metabolic pathways showed that there were 8 possible metabolic pathways that could be affected, and three of the most important metabolic pathways(pathway impact>0.1) were involved: linoleic acid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, and sphingolipid metabolism. Chloriti Lapis had obvious intervention effects on lung tissue-related metabolites and metabolic pathways in rats with AECOPD, and the effect was better than that of aminophyllinne.

[Effects of mineral Chinese medicine Chloriti Lapis on contents of metal elements in plasma and lung tissue of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(AECOPD) rats].

The effects of Chloriti Lapis on metal elements in plasma and lung tissue of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease( AECOPD) rats were studied. The rat AECOPD model with phlegm heat syndrome was established by smoking combined with Klebsiella pneumoniae infection. After the rats were treated by Chloriti Lapis,the contents of metal elements in plasma and lung tissue were determined by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy( ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry( ICP-MS). The changes in the contents of metal elements were analyzed by SPSS 18. 0. Further,the correlations of differential metal elements( including Cu/Zn ratio) with differential metabolites in plasma,lung tissue and urine of AECOPD rats treated with Chloriti Lapis were analyzed. The results showed that Chloriti Lapis significantly up-regulated the contents of Fe,Al,Mn,Cu,Zn,Sn( P<0. 05),V,Co( P< 0. 01) and Cu/Zn ratio( P< 0. 05),and significantly down-regulated the contents of Ti( P< 0. 05)and Pb( P<0. 05) in the model rat plasma. It significantly increased the content of Be( P<0. 05) and decreased the contents of Mg,Ti and Al( P<0. 01) in model rat lung tissue. The element profiles of normal group,model group and Chloriti Lapis group can be well separated. Chloriti Lapis group and other groups were clustered into two categories. The taurine in plasma and phytosphingosine in lung tissue had the strongest correlations with differential metal elements. The Fe,Al,Mg,Be,Ti,V,Mn,Cu,Zn,Sn,and Co in Chloriti Lapis may directly or indirectly participate in the intervention of AECOPD rats. This group of metal elements may be the material basis of Chloriti Lapis acting on AECOPD rats,and reduce the Cu/Zn value in vivo. It was further confirmed that Chloriti Lapis could interfere with the metabolic pathways of taurine and hypotaurine in plasma and urine as well as the sphingolipid metabolism pathway in lung tissue of AECOPD rats. In addition,this study confirmed that long-term smoking can cause high-concentration Cd accumulation in the lung and damage the lung tissue.

Anti-depressant effect of Zhi-zi-chi decoction on CUMS mice and elucidation of its signaling pathway.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Zhi-zi-chi decoction (ZZCD) is used for treating depression as an effectively traditional Chinese medicine. Until now, studies on pharmacological research of ZZCD have mostly been centered in pharmacokinetic level. Little was known about its pharmacological mechanism of relieving depression. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study was to evaluate the effect of ZZCD on relieving depression via behavioral tests, serum metabolomics and signaling target expression analysis on chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The CUMS exposure lasted 7 consecutive weeks. The mice were administrated with ZZCD for the last 3 weeks. Behavioral tests were applied and a serum metabolomics method based on UFLC/Q-TOF-MS with multivariate statistical and global metabolic network analysis was performed to identify relevant metabolites and pathways. Finally, the protein expressions in mouse hippocampi were determined by western blot to verify the metabolomics deduction. RESULTS: Behavioral parameters were visibly changed after modeling, while high and medium dosage groups showed status improvement compared to the model group. Seventy six metabolites were identified as potential biomarkers from the metabolomics profiles in C18 and HILIC systems. In addition, 9 significant pathways related to changed biomarkers were conducted. The pathways were closely connected by some key targets, which were significantly reduced in the model group compared with those in control group, while ZZCD treated groups showed corrections after 3-week administration. The results revealed that the anti-depression efficacy of ZZCD might be associated with PKA-CREB-BDNF-TrkB-PSD-95 pathway influenced by metabolic changes, verifying the pathway annotation speculation. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that ZZCD had a positive treatment effect on CUMS depression model mice. Metabolomics results revealed the holistic and interconnected metabolic changes of ZZCD in CUMS mice. The metabolic pathway annotation suggested that the anti-depression mechanism of ZZCD might be related to signaling pathway in brain. PKA-CREB-BDNF-TrkB-PSD-95 signaling expression was a verification and complement to the metabolomics results.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the major constituents in Spatholobi Caulis by UFLC-Triple TOF-MS/MS and UFLC-QTRAP-MS/MS.

There have been few comprehensive studies on the holistic chemical composition of Spatholobi Caulis (SC) and consequently, the information is lacking for the in-depth study of the major constituents. SC is a kind of widely used traditional Chinese medicine with its xylem and phloem alternately arranged in 3-10 rings, but the relationship of phloem ring number and the quality remains unclear. In this study, the characterization of the major constituents in SC was analyzed by ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (UFLC-Triple TOF-MS/MS), and the content of 19 flavonoids in SC with different phloem ring numbers was simultaneously determined by ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (UFLC-QTRAP-MS/MS). Correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the quality of SC with different phloem ring numbers according to the content of 19 flavonoids. Results showed that 50 constituents in SC were identified and the fragmentation pathways of different types of compounds were preliminarily deduced by the fragmentation behavior of the 50 constituents. In addition, the content of flavonoids increased with phloem ring number, which demonstrated that the content of flavonoids in SC was positively correlated with the number of phloem rings. Our research will contribute to the variety identification and quality evaluation of SC, and provide a scientific basis for evaluating the quality of medicinal materials based on its appearance and characteristics.

Simultaneous quantitation of glycyrrhetic acid and puerarin in plasma using ultra flow liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and application in a pharmacokinetics study in healthy and alcoholic liver injury rats.

A rapid, sensitive, and accurate ultra flow liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UFLC-MS/MS ) method was developed and validated for simultaneous quantitation of glycyrrhetic acid and puerarin in plasma derived from healthy and alcoholic liver injury rats. Plasma samples from healthy and model rats were deproteinated with methanol using liquiritin as an internal standard. Chromatography separation was performed by a Waters BEH (ethylene-bridged hybrid) C18 column (2.1 × 50 mm; 1.7 µm) using a gradient elution from acetonitrile and water (containing 0.1% formic acid) and at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. Quantitation was performed on a Triple Quad 4500 tandem mass spectrometer coupled with an electrospray ionization source in negative multiple reaction monitoring mode. Specificity, carryover, dilution integrity, recovery, linearity, precision and accuracy, matrix effect, and stability were within acceptable limits. The newly established method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetics study to investigate glycyrrhetic acid and puerarin in healthy and alcoholic liver injury rats.

Targeting HIBCH to reprogram valine metabolism for the treatment of colorectal cancer.

Valine catabolism is known to be essential for cancer cells but the detailed mechanism remains unclear. This study is to explore the critical roles of 3-hydroxyisobutyryl-CoA hydrolase (HIBCH) in colorectal cancers (CRC) and to develop a new therapy returning valine metabolism homeostasis. High HIBCH expression was first confirmed to correlate with poor survival in patients with CRC, which was then linked to the increased cell growth, resistant apoptosis, and decreased autophagy in CRC cells. The functions of HIBCH in CRC were dependent on its mitochondrial localization. High HIBCH level was further demonstrated to promote the metabolism of tricarboxylic acid cycle as well as oxidative phosphorylation in CRC cells. Based on above findings, we further discovered a novel valine catabolism inhibitor SBF-1. The pharmacological blockade of HIBCH mitochondrial localization with SBF-1 resulted in decreased cancer cell growth and increased autophagy, collectively contributing to the antitumor effect both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, anti-VEGF therapy with bevacizumab increased HIBCH level in CRC cells, which in turn caused the resistance to the therapy. The interference with HIBCH function by SBF-1 significantly increased the antitumor efficacy of bevacizumab and led to a robust survival benefit. The present study identified HIBCH as a critical enzyme of valine catabolism in CRC progression and resistance to anti-VEGF therapy. We also provided a novel HIBCH inhibitor SBF-1, which highlighted the combined therapy using valine catabolic inhibitor along with anti-VEGF drugs, to control progression of CRC.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of a novel series of curcumin-peptide derivatives as PepT1-mediated transport drugs.

Curcumin (CUR) is a natural yellow pigment from turmeric with extensive bioactivities. However its relatively poor solubility limited its absorption and bioavailability. In this study, a novel series of CUR-peptide conjugates were designed and synthesized as PepT1-mediated transport drugs and their solubility, cellular uptakes and anti-tumor activities were evaluated. Ten compounds showed better water solubility than CUR due to the dipeptide moiety. Compared with CUR, compound 5e exhibited the slightly better activity and 5d showed the similar activity with CUR. Besides, compounds 5d and 5e performed higher cellular uptakes in Caco-2 cell and dose-dependently inhibited by the addition of PepT1 typical substrate glycylsarcosine (Gly-Sar). Compound 5d and 5e have improved the absorption of CUR by PepT1-mediated without affected the activity. These new dipeptide conjugates of CUR may serve as promising lead compounds for future drug development.

LC-Q-TOF/MS-oriented systemic metabolism study of pedunculoside with in vitro and in vivo biotransformation.

As a triterpene saponin, pedunculoside is one of the most abundant, representative and active components in plants of genus Ilex (Aquifoliaceae). Pedunculoside has been used to treat myocardial ischemia, ameliorate hyperlipidemia and prevent liver injury. In this paper, a systemic in vitro liver microsomes / S9 and intestinal bacteria incubation, and in vivo animal experiment were performed, using LC-Q-TOF/MS analysis and a three-step data processing protocol. As a result, Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Bifidobacterium breve were identified to potentially metabolize pedunculoside among the intestinal bacteria tested. A total of 11 metabolites were found and tentatively identified, with 6 in both microsomal and bacterial incubation systems, and 9 after rats orally administered with pedunculoside. The metabolites detected involving both phase I and phase II metabolism, mainly through deglycosylation (hydrolyzation), dehydrogenation, hydroxylation and conjugation, and some of them underwent more than one-step metabolic reactions. Most of the metabolites have not been reported before. In vitro, liver microsome and intestinal bacteria prefer to metabolize pedunculoside in totally different ways; while in vivo, intestinal tract is the most important site for the metabolism and excretion of pedunculoside, where both intestinal bacteria and the host metabolic enzymes participate in its metabolism and disposition. The importance of intestinal bacteria should be highlighted. This study would contribute to a better understanding of pedunculoside metabolism, which can provide scientific evidence for its pharmacodynamic mechanism research and prove its clinical application.

Simultaneous Characterization and Quantification of Varied Ingredients from Sojae semen praeparatum in Fermentation Using UFLC⁻TripleTOF MS.

Systematic comparison of active ingredients in Sojae semen praeparatum (SSP) during fermentation was performed using ultra-fast liquid chromatography (UFLC)-TripleTOF MS and principal component analysis (PCA). By using this strategy, a total of 25 varied compounds from various biosynthetic groups were assigned and relatively quantified in the positive or negative ion mode, including two oligosaccharides, twelve isoflavones, eight fatty acids, N-(3-Indolylacetyl)-dl-aspartic acid, methylarginine, and sorbitol. Additionally, as the representative constituents, six targeted isoflavones were sought in a targeted manner and accurately quantified using extracted ion chromatograms (XIC) manager (AB SCIEX, Los Angeles, CA, USA) combined with MultiQuant software (AB SCIEX, Los Angeles, CA, USA). During the fermentation process, the relative contents of oligoses decreased gradually, while the fatty acids increased. Furthermore, the accurate contents of isoflavone glycosides decreased, while aglycones increased and reached a maximum in eight days, which indicated that the ingredients converted obviously and regularly throughout the SSP fermentation. In combination with the morphological changes, which meet the requirements of China Pharmacopoeia, this work suggested that eight days is the optimal time for fermentation of SSP from the aspects of morphology and content.

Simultaneous Determination of Quercitrin, Afzelin, Amentoflavone, Hinokiflavone in Rat Plasma by UFLC-MS-MS and Its Application to the Pharmacokinetics of Platycladus orientalis Leaves Extract.

Leaves of Platycladus orientalis have been used as blood cooling and homeostatic therapy for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine. Emerging evidences of modern pharmacology have proved flavonoids as the key elements responsible for the efficacies. However, there has been no report on pharmacokinetic study of the flavonoids from Platycladus orientalis leaves extract. In this study, a sensitive and rapid ultra-flow liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was established and validated for the simultaneous determination of amentoflavone, afzelin, hinokiflavone and quercitrin in rat plasma. The four flavonoids and luteolin (internal standard, IS) were recovered from rat plasma by methanol-ethyl acetate (v:v, 50:50). Chromatographic separation was performed on a C18 column with gradient elution. Our results showed that the recoveries from spiked control samples were more than 85% for all analytes and IS. The relative standard deviations of intra-day and inter-day precision were within 15% while the REs ranged from -6.6% to 8.0%. The validated method in this study was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic study in healthy rats after oral administration of P. orientalis leaves extract.

Sulfotransferase-catalyzed biotransformation of liguzinediol and comparison of its metabolism in different species using UFLC-QTOF-MS.

Liguzinediol (2,5-dihydroxymethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine, LZDO) is a potential agent for the low-risk treatment of heart failure. 2-N-acetylcysteine-LZDO (2-NAC-LZDO) and 2-cysteine-LZDO (2-Cys-LZDO) are major LZDO metabolites found in the pharmacokinetic studies of rats and beagle dogs. To elucidate the biotransformation pathway and related enzymes, an incubation system with 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS) as a cofactor and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) as a trapping agent was established using liver cytosol. An ultra-flow liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UFLC-QTOF-MS) method was used to identify the major metabolites. 2-NAC-LZDO could be detected among four species (humans, monkeys, dogs, and rats) and is the dominant metabolite in human liver cytosol (HLC). The sulfotransferase (SULT) inhibitors 2,6-dichloro-4-nitrophenol (DCNP) and quercetin at a concentration of 1 µM, suppressed 2-NAC-LZDO formation in HLC by 87 and 46%, respectively. This result suggested that sulfotransferase was involved in 2-NAC-LZDO formation. The metabolism of LZDO in different species indicated that SULT activity in dogs, rats, and monkeys was higher than that in humans. Further SULT phenotyping revealed that SULT1A1 is the predominant enzyme involved in the sulfation of LZDO. The underlying mechanism for the biotransformation of LZDO was demonstrated. The potential pathway is via the sulfation of LZDO to form sulfate, and the spontaneous cleavage of the sulfate group to generate highly reactive electrophilic cations, which can bind to NAC to form the major metabolites.

Preparation of Microkernel-Based Mesoporous (SiO2-CdTe-SiO2)@SiO2 Fluorescent Nanoparticles for Imaging Screening and Enrichment of Heat Shock Protein 90 Inhibitors from Tripterygium Wilfordii.

The currently utilized ligand fishing for bioactive molecular screening from complex matrixes cannot perform imaging screening. Here, we developed a new solid-phase ligand fishing coupled with an in situ imaging protocol for the specific enrichment and identification of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp 90) inhibitors from Tripterygium wilfordii, utilizing a multiple-layer and microkernel-based mesoporous nanostructure composed of a protective silica coating CdTe quantum dot (QD) core and a mesoporous silica shell, i.e., microkernel-based mesoporous (SiO2-CdTe-SiO2)@SiO2 fluorescent nanoparticles (MMFNPs) as extracting carries and fluorescent probes. The prepared MMFNPs showed a highly uniform spherical morphology, retention of fluorescence emission, and great chemical stability. The fished ligands by Hsp 90α-MMFNPs were evaluated via the preliminary bioactivity based on real-time cellular morphology imaging by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and then identified by mass spectrometry (MS). Celastrol was successfully isolated as an Hsp 90 inhibitor, and two other specific components screened by Hsp 90α-MMFNPs, i.e., demecolcine and wilforine, were preliminarily identified as potential Hsp 90 inhibitors through the verification of strong affinity to Hsp 90 and antitumor bioactivity. The approach based on the MMFNPs provides a strong platform for imaging screening and discovery of plant-derived biologically active molecules with high efficiency and selectivity.