ABSTRACT
The 24 h normal developing zebrafish embryos were used to evaluate the acute toxicity and the compounds of respective fractions were analyzed by UFLC-Q-TOF-MS simultaneously. Nine concentration groups with respective concentration and a blank control group were designed for each fraction to investigate their effect on survival rates of zebrafish embryos 96 h after drug administration, and calculate the median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) of different fractions to zebrafish embryos. The results showed that all of the fractions had acute toxicity to zebrafish embryos except VEKD, and the order was as follows: VEKB, VEKC, VEKA and VEKD. According to the results of UFLC-Q-TOF-MS, the chemical ingredients contained in VEKB and VEKC were mainly composed of ingenane-type and japhane-type diterpenoids, respectively. It could be speculated that japhane-type diterpenoids might be the active compounds with lower toxicity associated with the results of toxicity study, providing some references for the further research on effective material basis of Kansui stir-baked with vinegar according to the principle of "drastic medicine, no death risks".