ABSTRACT
A hyper-bilirubin cell model was established for its relevance to the pathological state of jaundice in human. This model was used to screen for the pharmacological components of Yin-Zhi-huang (YZH). Total bilirubin, indirect bilirubin in cells, and direct bilirubin in extracellular fluid were quantified after HepaRG cells were incubated with serum from rats injected with multiple components of YZH. Cellular uptake was determined by dynamic multiple reaction monitoring (DMRM) using LC-MS/MS. We found that the stable hyper-bilirubin HepaRG cell model could be established by incubating cells with 40 μg·mL-1 bilirubin and 50 μg·mL-1 probenecid. When the hyper-bilirubin cell model was incubated with serum from rats of YZH injection, there were 52.4% and 60.1% decrease in intercellular total bilirubin and indirect bilirubin, respectively, and 52.5% increase in extracellular direct bilirubin. Using DMRM mode, 53 components could be determined, and 8 potential bioactive candidates were identified from the serum. This method could be used to screen for bioactive metabolites of YZH. This strategy is simple, highly active, sensitive and specific, providing a new method for high throughput screening of therapeutic or toxic metabolites from traditional Chinese medicine. The regulations of Ethics Committee in the First Hospital of Lanzhou University were abided in the rat experiment of this study.