Characterization of the Components and Metabolites of Achyranthes Bidentata in the Plasma and Brain Tissue of Rats Based on Ultrahigh Performance Liquid Chromatography-High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-HR-MS).

BACKGROUND: Achyranthes bidentata (AR) is a traditional Chinese herb used for the treatment of hypertension and cerebral ischemia, but its pharmacological effects are not known. AIM OF STUDY: We aimed to detect and accurately identify the components and metabolites of AR in the plasma and brain tissue of Sprague Dawley rats. METHODS: We employed ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HR-MS) to detect AR components in the plasma and brain tissue of rats. The absorption and metabolites in the plasma and brain tissue of normal control rats and rats that underwent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) were characterized and compared. RESULTS: A total of 281 compounds, including alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, phenylpropanes, sugars and glycosides, steroids, triterpenes, amino acids, and peptides, was identified in samples of Achyranthes bidentata (TCM-AR). Four types of absorbable prototype components and 48 kinds of metabolites were identified in rats in the normal control plasma group which were given AR (AR plasma group), and five kinds of metabolites were identified in rats of the normal control brain tissue group which were given AR (AR brain group). Three absorbed prototype components and 13 metabolites were identified in the plasma of rats which underwent MCAO and were given AR (MCAO + AR plasma group). Six absorbed prototype components and two metabolites were identified in the brain tissue of rats who underwent MCAO and were administered AR (MCAO + AR brain group). These results showed that, after the oral administration of AR, the number of identified components in plasma was more than that in brain tissue. The number of prototype components in the AR plasma group was higher than that in the MCAO + AR plasma group, which may indicate that metabolite absorption in rats undergoing MCAO was worse. The number of prototype components in the MCAO + AR brain group was higher than that in the AR brain group, indicating that the blood-brain barrier was destroyed after MCAO, resulting in more compounds entering brain tissue. CONCLUSIONS: UHPLC-HR-MS was used to rapidly analyze the components and metabolites of AR in the blood and brain of rats under normal and pathologic conditions, and to comprehensively characterize the components of TCM-AR. We also analyzed and compared the absorbable components and metabolites of normal rats under cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury to explore the potential mechanism of action. This method could be applied to various Chinese herbs and disease models, which could promote TCM modernization.

[Study on metabolites in vivo of Dangefentong Capsules based on UHPLC-Q/Orbitrap-MS/MS].

Dangefentong Capsules is a new traditional Chinese medicine preparation for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. It is based on the Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Puerariae Lobatae Radix herb pair with salvianolic acids, tanshinones and pueraria flavonoids as main components. Studying the chemical composition in vivo of Dangefentong Capsules and its metabolites is of great significance for making clear its pharmacodynamic material basis and the action mechanism. The UHPLC-Q/Orbitrap-MS/MS was applied to rapidly analyze the metabolites and metabolic pathways of Dangefentong Capsules in Beagle dogs after gavage. Eclipse plus C_(18) column(2.1 mm×50 mm, 1.8 µm) was used, and gradient elution was performed with 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution(A)-formic acid acetonitrile solution(B). A heated electrospray ion source(HESI) was employed. The scanning mode was set as the positive and negative ion mode, and the mass scanning range was m/z 100-1 000. The plasma, urine and feces samples were collected after male Beagle dogs were administered with Dangefentong Capsules. The prototype components and metabolites were identified by UHPLC-Q/Orbitrap-MS/MS analysis combined with reference substances and references. The results showed that 107 chemical components were identified, including 58 prototype components and 49 metabolites. The identified prototype components included 42 components from Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and 16 components from Puerariae Lobatae Radix. The metabolites consist of 21 and 28 metabolites of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and Puerariae Lobatae Radix, respectively. They are mainly derived from the methylation, hydroxylation, sulfation and glucuronidation of salvianolic acids, tanshinones and pueraria flavonoids. This research rapi-dly analyzes the chemical components in vivo of Beagle dogs administered with Dangefentong Capsules, laying a basis for illustrating the pharmacodynamic material basis and mechanism of Dangefentong Capsules.

[Comparative study of rat serum pharmacochemistry between Puerariae Lobatae Radix and Puerariae Thomsonii Radix based on UPLC-Q-TOF-MS].

UPLC-Q-TOF-MS and serum pharmacochemistry were employed to study the migrating components in rat sera after intragastric administration of the water extracts of Puerariae Lobatae Radix(PLR) and Puerariae Thomsonii Radix(PTR). After the respective intragastric administration of PLR and PTR extracts, blood samples were collected from the orbital vein. The serum samples were treated by protein precipitation method with methanol and acetonitrile at a ratio of 1∶1 and then passed through Agilent ZORBAX RRHD SB-C_(18) column(3 mm×100 mm, 1.8 µm) and Agilent SB-C_(18) pre-column(3 mm×5 mm, 1.8 µm) with 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution(A)-acetonitrile(B) as the mobile phase. The elution was performed at the flow rate of 0.25 mL·min~(-1), the column temperature of 40 ℃, and the injection volume of 2 µL. By comparison of the total ion chromatogram and secondary fragment ion information of PLR and PTR water extracts, PLR-and PTR-containing sera, and blank serum, we found 42 migrating components(including 17 prototype components and 25 metabolites) in the sera of rats treated with PLR and 35 migrating components(including 15 prototype components and 20 metabolites) in the sera of rats treated with PTR. Thirty-three common components were shared by the two treatments, including 13 prototype components and 20 metabolites. The differences of migrating components in the PLR-and PTR-treated rat sera provide a scientific basis for further study of the active components and quality markers of PLR and PTR.

Systematic characterization of the chemical constituents in vitro and prototypes in vivo of Dingkun Dan using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry combined with the UNIFI™ software.

Dingkun Dan (DKD), a famous traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely used in the treatment of irregular menstruation, leucorrhea abnormality, and postpartum gynecological diseases since Qing dynasty (1739). It comprises 30 flavors of Chinese medicinal materials, which results in its complex chemical composition. In this study, an integrative method was developed to rapidly characterize the chemical components of DKD using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry combined with the UNIFI™ software. A total of 234 compounds, including 47 triterpenoid saponins, 55 flavonoids, and 38 alkaloids, were identified. Of them, 170 compounds were characterized initially and 61 compounds were identified unambiguously using reference standards. Under the same analysis conditions, 43 prototypical components, which were tentatively assigned as triterpenoid saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, phenylpropanoids, and others, were absorbed in rat by serum pharmacochemistry analysis. DKD exhibited diverse pharmacological activities through the combined effect of these components. This study was the first systematic study of chemical components in vitro originating from 30 medicinal materials and prototypes in vivo of DKD, which could provide scientific evidence for explaining its therapeutic effect.

Rapid characterization of the absorbed chemical constituents of Tangzhiqing formula following oral administration using UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS.

Tangzhiqing formula, a Chinese herbal formula, is used for the treatment of type II diabetes and prediabetes. Although its effectiveness has been certified by clinical use, its absorbed chemical constituents are not comprehensively represented. Thence, in order to reveal potential bioactive components and metabolism of Tangzhiqing formula, an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry method was developed. A total of 86 absorbed components, including 38 prototype compounds and 48 metabolites, were identified in rat plasma, urine, and feces after oral administration of Tangzhiqing formula. This was the first systematic study on the chemical constituents and metabolic profiling of Tangzhiqing formula. The results indicated that alkaloids and flavonoids were main absorbed components, and glucuronidation and sulfation were the major metabolites. Moreover we concluded that alkaloids and flavonoids first underwent demethylation and hydrolysis reactions before biotransformed to phase II metabolites. This study provided valuable data for safety estimation of Tangzhiqing formula, which will be advantageous for clinical application.

Simultaneous determination of multiple components in rat plasma by UPLC-MS/MS for pharmacokinetic studies after oral administration of Pogostemon cablin extract.

Introduction: Pogostemon cablin (PC) is used in traditional Chinese medicine and food, as it exerts pharmacological effects, such as immune-modulatory, antibacterial, antioxidant, antitumor, and antiviral. Currently, the pharmacokinetics (PK) studies of PC mainly focus on individual components. However, research on these individual components cannot reflect the actual PK characteristics of PC after administration. Therefore, the simultaneous determination of multiple components in rat plasma using UPLC-MS/MS was used for the pharmacokinetic study after oral administration of PC extract in this study, providing reference value for the clinical application of PC. Methods: In the present study, a reliable and sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of 15 prototype components (vanillic acid, vitexin, verbascoside, isoacteoside, hyperoside, cosmosiin, apigenin, ß-rhamnocitrin, acacetin, ombuin, pogostone, pachypodol, vicenin-2, retusin, and diosmetin-7-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside) in rat plasma after oral administration of the PC extract. Plasma samples were prepared via protein precipitation using acetonitrile, and icariin was used as the internal standard (IS). Results: The intra-day and inter-day accuracies ranged from -12.0 to 14.3%, and the precision of the analytes was less than 11.3%. The extraction recovery rate of the analytes ranged from 70.6-104.5%, and the matrix effects ranged from 67.4-104.8%. Stability studies proved that the analytes were stable under the tested conditions, with a relative standard deviation lower than 14.1%. Conclusion: The developed method can be applied to evaluate the PK of 15 prototype components in PC extracts of rats after oral administration using UPLC-MS/MS, providing valuable information for the development and clinical safe, effective, and rational use of PC.

Metabolism of Du Zhong Formula in rats using UPLC-Q-TOF/MS.

Du Zhong Formula (DZF), a traditional Chinese medicine formula derived from BeiJiQianJinYaoFang, is used to treat kidney deficiency and lumbago. In this study, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) technique combined with pattern recognition analysis was applied for analysis of metabolic profiles of the bioactive components of the DZF in rat biological samples. In this experiment, a total of 73 compounds, including 53 prototype components and 20 metabolites, were identified tentatively in vivo compared with blank urine, plasma, feces, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The prototype ingredients in DZF include terpenoids, gingerols, phenylpropanoids, alkaloids, phenanthrenes, bibenzyls, organic acids, and other ingredients. The metabolic pathways of DZF involved reduction, demethylation, hydroxylation, desugarization, deoxygenation, glucuronidation, sulfation, and methylation. The proposed method could develop an integrated template approach to analyze screening and identification of the bioactive components in plasma, urine, feces, and CSF after oral administration of herb medicines. Additionally, this investigation might provide helpful chemical information for further pharmacology and activity mechanism of DZF.

Multi-component pharmacokinetic study of prunus mume fructus extract after oral administration in rats using UPLC-MS/MS.

Prunus mume fructus (MF) is used in traditional Chinese medicine and food, as it exerts pharmacological effects, such as antibacterial, antioxidant, antitumour, thirst-relieving, and antidiarrheal effects. In the present study, a reliable and sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of 16 prototype components (L-(-)-malic acid, 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde, protocatechuic acid, vanillic acid, caffeic acid, D-(-)-quinic acid, citric acid, ferulic acid, syringic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, amygdalin, maslinic acid, corosolic acid, and rutin) in rat plasma after oral administration of the MF extract. Plasma samples were prepared via protein precipitation using acetonitrile. The 16 components were separated on an ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.7 µm) with a gradient mobile phase system of methanol and 0.1% (v/v) formic acid aqueous solution at a flow rate of 0.3 ml/min. All components were quantitated using Agilent Jet Stream electrospray ionisation in negative ion mode. The intra-day and inter-day accuracies ranged from-9.4 to 9.4%, and the precision of the analytes was less than 14.8%. The extraction recovery rate of the analytes ranged from 63.59 to 109.44% and the matrix effects ranged from 49.25 to 109.28%. Stability studies proved that the analytes were stable under the tested conditions, with a relative standard deviation lower than 13.7%. Hence, the developed method was successfully applied to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of 16 components in the MF extract after oral administration in rats using UPLC-MS/MS.

Rapid characterization of the absorbed constituents in rat serum after oral administration and action mechanism of Naozhenning granule using LC-MS and network pharmacology.

Naozhenning granule is a Chinese herbal formula, which is mainly used in the treatment of concussion, cerebral post-traumatic syndrome. Although its effectiveness has been certified in the clinical use, the mechanism of action and bioactive components of Naozhenning remain unknown. In this study, the ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometry was applied to identify the absorbed constituents of Naozhenning in the rat serum. A total of 60 compounds, including 30 prototype components and 30 metabolites were identified. Then the absorbed constituents were subjected to the network pharmacology analysis. The compound-target-disease (CTD) and KEGG pathway analysis revealed that 40 absorbed constituents, 56 target genes and three key pathways such as RAS, PI3K/Akt, MAPK, TGFß were probably related with the efficacy of Naozhenning against cerebral trauma and cerebral concussion. The results provided a scientific basis for understanding the bioactive compounds and the pharmacological mechanism of Naozhenning granule.

Comparative study of rat serum pharmacochemistry between Puerariae Lobatae Radix and Puerariae Thomsonii Radix based on UPLC-Q-TOF-MS / 中国中药杂志

UPLC-Q-TOF-MS and serum pharmacochemistry were employed to study the migrating components in rat sera after intragastric administration of the water extracts of Puerariae Lobatae Radix(PLR) and Puerariae Thomsonii Radix(PTR). After the respective intragastric administration of PLR and PTR extracts, blood samples were collected from the orbital vein. The serum samples were treated by protein precipitation method with methanol and acetonitrile at a ratio of 1∶1 and then passed through Agilent ZORBAX RRHD SB-C_(18) column(3 mm×100 mm, 1.8 μm) and Agilent SB-C_(18) pre-column(3 mm×5 mm, 1.8 μm) with 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution(A)-acetonitrile(B) as the mobile phase. The elution was performed at the flow rate of 0.25 mL·min~(-1), the column temperature of 40 ℃, and the injection volume of 2 μL. By comparison of the total ion chromatogram and secondary fragment ion information of PLR and PTR water extracts, PLR-and PTR-containing sera, and blank serum, we found 42 migrating components(including 17 prototype components and 25 metabolites) in the sera of rats treated with PLR and 35 migrating components(including 15 prototype components and 20 metabolites) in the sera of rats treated with PTR. Thirty-three common components were shared by the two treatments, including 13 prototype components and 20 metabolites. The differences of migrating components in the PLR-and PTR-treated rat sera provide a scientific basis for further study of the active components and quality markers of PLR and PTR.

Identification of Prototype Compounds and Their Metabolites in Rat Plasma After Oral Administration of Aurantii Fructus Extract by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To study the serum pharmacochemistry of Aurantii Fructus （AF）， and to investigate the pharmacological material basis of AF extract in rats. Method:Rapid identification and speculation of the prototype constituents and their metabolites in vivo were carried out according to the relative retention time， accurate relative molecular mass， cleavage fragments of MS/MS and neutral loss of metabolites with ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry （UPLC-Q-TOF/MS） technique by comparing the differences between different samples such as AF extracts， blank plasma， and administered plasma under the same chromatographic and mass spectrometric conditions. Result:After oral administration of the AF extract， 74 transitional constituents absorbed into the blood were detected in serum， in which 49 compounds were prototype constituents and the other 25 were metabolites. The prototype constituents could be divided into dihydroflavones， polymethoxyflavonoids， limonins， coumarins and alkaloids. The identified metabolites included glucuronic acid conjugates， sulfuric acid conjugates， hydroxylated products of flavonoid glycosides and polymethoxyflavonoids， as well as the simultaneous glucuronidation and sulfation products. Conclusion:The constituents absorbed into the blood and their metabolites may be the pharmacodynamic components of AF. Among them， alkaloids， polymethoxyflavonoids and coumarins are mainly introduced into the blood in the prototype form， while naringin and neohesperidin （the index components） exert effect mainly through hydrolysis into aglycones. This work will help to further elucidate the material basis of AF.

UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS Analysis of Brain and Blood Absorption Components of Buyang Huanwu Tang After Intragastric Administration / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To analyze and identify the brain and blood absorption components of rats after intragastric administration of Buyang Huanwu Tang(BYHWT). Method:The brain tissue,plasma of normal rats and the cerebral ischemia-reperfusion rats were analyzed by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS.The prototype components in BYHWT were identified according to retention time,accurate relative molecular weight,primary and secondary mass spectrometry data. Result:After the administration of BYHWT,five compounds were found to enter the normal brain tissue through the blood-brain barrier and identified as calycosin-7-glucoside,albiflorin,formononetin-7-O-β-D-glucoside-6″-O-acetyl,safflower yellow A and astragaloside A;two compounds penetrated the blood-brain barrier and entered modeling brain tissue,and they were identified as calycosin-7-glucoside and formononetin-7-O-β-D-glucoside-6″-O-acetyl;seven compounds entered normal plasma and were identified as calycosin-7-glucoside,albiflorin,hydroxysafflor yellow A,et al;three compounds entered model plasma and identified as calycosin-7-O-β-D-glucoside-6″-O-acetyl,6″-O-acetyl-(6αR,11αR)-9,10-dimetho-xypterocarpan-3-O-β-D-glucoside and formononetin-7-O-β-D-glucoside-6″-O-acetyl. Conclusion:BYHWT has different pharmacological material basis in normal and cerebral ischemia-reperfusion rats.

Identification of components and metabolites of Mentha haplocalyx in rats plasma by UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS / 中草药

Objective To investigate the prototype components and metabolites of Mentha haplocalyx in rats plasma. Methods UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS method was developed and applied to identify the components and metabolites of rat plasma. The analysis was carried out on an Eclipse Plus C18 column (100 mm × 4.6 mm, 3.5 μm, Agilent) with the mobile phase of 0.1% acetic acid solution (A)-acetonitrile (B) at a flowing rate of 0.3 mL/min, and the injection volume was 5 μL. Results The developed method was applicable to the analysis and identification of metabolites of M. haplocalyx after oral administration. A total of 67 compounds, including 28 prototype components and 39 metabolites (one of which was a new metabolite of luteolin unreported), were identified by comparison of their retention time, ion fragmentation information with that of the blank biological samples, herb extract, and reference compounds. Conclusion The metabolic pathway of M. haplocalyx in rats were consisted of oxidation, reduction, methylation, sulfation, and glucuronidation, and the main metabolic pathway was phase II metabolic pathway among of them. This experimental method is simple and reliable, which could provide theoretical basis for elucidating the bioactive components of M. haplocalyx.

Screening active ingredients based on serum pharmacochemistry of traditional Chinese medicine: current situation and problems / 中草药

In order to evaluate the advantages and problems of serum pharmacochemistry of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for screening active ingredients, all literatures concerned from 2003 to 2013 were searched and analyzed. According to our statistics, there were 88 Chinese materia medica (CMM) formulae or single herbs involved; Nine hundred and seventy components were absorbed into blood, including 582 prototype components and 388 metabolites; Among them, 270 prototype components (46.4%) were identified, and only 37 metabolites (9.53%) were identified. Further investigation suggested that 80.37% of the absorbed prototype components identified were pharmacologically active according to relative reports. Thus, the above method is not only fast, accurate, and cost-saving, but also easy to operate, popularize, and utilize in most screening cases of CMM. However, this method has certain limitations at the range of application and problems such as non-standard, non-system, no indepth, low internationalization or industry promotion.