Screening of quantitative preparation quality markers of Zhibao Sanbian Wan / 药学学报

On the basis of the qualitative preparation quality markers of Zhibao Sanbian Wan (ZBSBW), we screened out the quantitative markers and evaluated the content consistency of ZBSBW. A method capable of simultaneously determining 34 compounds in ZBSBW was established based on HPLC-MS/MS, and 16 batches of ZBSBW were simultaneously analyzed by this method. Furthermore, we explored a general strategy for analyzing the component migration in preparation, plasma, brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid. The methodological investigation was confirmed by linear range, recovery (85.10%-105.07%), precision (RSD: 1.37%-4.58%), stability, and repeatability (3.00%-12.45%), the established method was suitable for the detection and quantification of the compounds in ZBSBW. The contents of compounds in ZBSBW were all lower than 1 mg·g-1, and the contents and daily dose of nystose were the highest, followed by echinacoside, paeoniflorin, osthole and paeonol. The results of systematic clustering showed that the contents were consistent for ordinary preparations of ZBSBW. The principal component analysis showed that the components of berberine, ginsenoside Re, ginsenoside Rg1, pinoresinol diglucoside and tenuifolin had large variation, which contributed significantly to the grouping. The contents of echinacoside, verbascoside, polygalaxanthone Ⅲ, β-ecdysterone, osthole, alisol B 23-acetate, liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid were stable from batch to batch. The animal experiment results showed that osthole, paeonol and liquiritin in ZBSBW could be absorbed into the blood and enter the brain tissue by passing through the blood-brain barrier. All animal studies were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (No. 2020B071). The above compounds contributed the quantitative preparation quality markers of ZBSBW. In conclusion, the HPLC-MS/MS method established in this study was sensitive, accurate and rapid, and could be used for simultaneous quantification of 34 compounds and content consistency evaluation of multiple batches of preparations in ZBSBW. The result provided a methodological basis for the screening of quantitative preparation quality markers and material basis research of ZBSBW.

Establishment and Application of Rapid Screening Method for Influenza Virus Neuraminidase Inhibitors Sourced from Traditional Chinese Medicine Based on Fluorescence Detection / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ObjectiveTo establish a rapid screening method for influenza virus neuraminidase（NA） inhibitors sourced from Chinese medicines based on fluorescence detection. MethodThe method was constructed based on the principle that after the reaction of the test sample and a certain amount of NA， the activity of some NA will be inhibited by the test sample， and the NA that is still active after the addition of the substrate can generate fluorescence at a specific wavelength when combined with the fluorescent substrate， and the inhibition rate of the test sample on NA was calculated according to the measured fluorescence intensity， so as to evaluate the in vitro inhibitory activity of the test sample on NA. A total of 49 high-purity chemical components from 12 Chinese medicines were used to evaluate the in vitro anti-NA activity by the established method. The theoretical calculated values of binding energy and inhibition constant after docking between the NA protein receptor and the test sample were used to prove the accuracy of the experimental results. The established method was applied to detect the in vitro NA inhibitory activity of different batches of Banlangen granules and Kangbingdu granules， so as to evaluate the quality consistency among different batches of samples. ResultThe methodological examination results showed that the method had good accuracy and repeatability. The screening results of 49 components showed that 22 of them had strong in vitro inhibitory activity against NA than peramivir ［half inhibitory concentration（IC50） was 131.2 μmol·L-1］， such as schaftoside， isoorientin， chebulinic acid， menthone and isoschaftoside. The inhibitory activity of the remaining 27 components was weaker than that of peramivir. The molecular docking results showed that the theoretical calculation results of binding energies and inhibition constants of most compounds were basically consistent with the experimental results. The test results of the inhibitory activity of 12 batches of Banlangen granules on NA showed that the quality consistency among samples A1， A2， B2， C1， C2， E2 and F2 was good. The analysis results of the inhibitory activity of 9 batches of Kangbingdu granules produced by the same manufacturer on NA showed that the inhibitory rates of samples K1 to K9 were 37.68%， 36.18%， 31.37%， 33.98%， 40.36%， 33.76%， 40.69%， 41.08%， 40.06% when the concentration of 0.02 g·mL-1， and the average inhibitory rate was 37.24%. ConclusionIn this paper， we successfully established an analytical method that can be used to rapidly evaluate whether Chinese medicines （derived from chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine or proprietary Chinese medicines） have in vitro anti-NA activity， which can be a powerful supplement to the existing screening methods for influenza virus NA inhibitors. And this method was used to screen 22 compounds from 12 Chinese medicines with good in vitro inhibitory activity against NA， which can provide candidate compounds for the development of anti-influenza small molecule drugs.

Views on Key Technical Problems in Research and Development of Famous Classical Formulas / 中国实验方剂学杂志

In this paper， the key technical problems in the research and development of famous classical formulas are analyzed. Firstly， the puzzled problem for a long-time， which is conversion relationship from medicinal metrology of Han dynasty （HD） to that of modern （gram，g）， is comprehensively expounded that one Liang （两） of HD=3 g is more appropriate. Secondly， the model and principles of quality consistency evaluation are given for the transformation from the quality of authoritative basic sample prepared by casserole （ABS-C） to the quality consistency in Laboratory process， pilot-scale process and industrial production. The consistency evaluation model is ξABS-X=K1（Q1ABS-X/Q1ABS-C）+K2（Q2ABS-X/Q2ABS-C）+……+Ki（QiABS-X/QiABS-C）=∑Ki（QiABS-X/QiABS-C）（i=1，2，3……n）. In the formula， ABS-X means laboratory reference sample ABS-C （ABS-L）， pilot-scale ABS-C （ABS-mP） or industrial production ABS-C （ABS-P）， ξABS-X means the quality consistency rate or similarity degree of ABS-L， ABS-mP and ABS-P processes with ABS-C， Ki means the weight of each quality evaluation index （i）， QiABS-X is the data of i in ABS-L， ABS-mP， ABS-P samples， and QiABS-C is the data （or mean） of i in ABS-C sample. Thirdly， in order to control the quality of the herbal medicines whose active ingredients were unknown， their chemical constituents should be studied deeply， and if necessary， the bioassay research should be carried out according to the main efficacy or indication of famous classical formulas. Finally， for the special processing of some herbal medicines， it is difficult to formulate the processing method， technology and standard of prepared slices. It is suggested that the scientific connotation and historical evolution of the special processing method should be thoroughly sorted out， and its technological characteristics are summarized， the modern processing technology and production processes are simulated， and then the corresponding processing methods and quality standards are formulated.

Evaluation of the Process Control Capability of Lorazepam Tablets by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the process control capability of lorazepam tablets produced in China. METHODS: Near-infrared spectroscopy combined with cluster analysis(CLA) and principal component analysis(PCA) were used to characterize the different processes and process control space of lorazepam tablets produced in China. Universal quantitative model was built to obtain the content predictions of individual units(tablets), on base of which process mean value,intra-batch and inter-batch differences and distribution status were calculated by univariate statistics analysis methods. RESULTS: Three different manufacturing processes of lorazepam tablets were characterized by both CLA and PCA. The process control spaces reconstructed by the second and third principal components indicated that the process of manufacturer B had smaller variation than that of manufacturer A. The universal quantitative model had a principal component number of 5, r2 square value of 93.89% and bias of -0.008 56. The statistic distribution of API contents showed that 9 batches out of the total 27 batches had relative lager intra-batch differences and manufacturer B had better inter-batch differences than manufacturer A. CONCLUSION: The method this study established can reveal the control levels of different processes of lorazepam tablets, which provide an efficient quality consistency evaluation means for generic drug consistency assessment.

Establishment of one-step approach to detoxification of hypertoxic aconite based on the evaluation of alkaloids contents and quality / 中国天然药物

Aconite is a valuable drug and also a toxic material, which can be used only after detoxification processing. Although traditional processing methods can achieve detoxification effect as desired, there are some obvious drawbacks, including a significant loss of alkaloids and poor quality consistency. It is thus necessary to develop a new detoxification approach. In the present study, we designed a novel one-step detoxification approach by quickly drying fresh-cut aconite particles. In order to evaluate the technical advantages, the contents of mesaconitine, aconitine, hypaconitine, benzoylmesaconine, benzoylaconine, benzoylhypaconine, neoline, fuziline, songorine, and talatisamine were determined using HPLC and UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS. Multivariate analysis methods, such as Clustering analysis and Principle component analysis, were applied to determine the quality differences between samples. Our results showed that traditional processes could reduce toxicity as desired, but also led to more than 85.2% alkaloids loss. However, our novel one-step method was capable of achieving virtually the same detoxification effect, with only an approximately 30% alkaloids loss. Cluster analysis and Principal component analysis analyses suggested that Shengfupian and the novel products were significantly different from various traditional products. Acute toxicity testing showed that the novel products achieved a good detoxification effect, with its maximum tolerated dose being equivalent to 20 times of adult dosage. And cardiac effect testing also showed that the activity of the novel products was stronger than that of traditional products. Moreover, particles specification greatly improved the quality consistency of the novel products, which was immensely superior to the traditional products. These results would help guide the rational optimization of aconite processing technologies, providing better drugs for clinical treatment.

Study on Quality Consistency of Traditional Chinese Medicine / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

This study was aimed to establish a suitable consistency evaluation system according to the existing problems in the quality evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for the development of Chinese medicine industry.Based on the particularity of TCM,combined with the advanced technology of TCM quality evaluation through the construction of TCM quality consistency evaluation system,this study explored a new quality evaluation method for seeking new breakthrough.The results showed that a new quality evaluation model of TCM using multiple indexes,which included "trait evaluation + chemical evaluation + biological evaluation" to achieve the consistency of TCM by effective combinations.It was concluded that the exploration provided some references for the evaluation of quality consistency of TCM.

In vitro Dissolution and Virtual Bioequivalence of Domestic Nifedipine Sustained Release Tablets / 中国药师

Objective: To evaluate the quality consistency of four domestic nifedipine sustained release tablets by dissolution test and virtual bioequivalence study by GastroPlus software.Methods: The dissolution curves of the four preparations were determined with the methods described in Japanese orange book and Chinese Pharmacopeia.The f2 factor of dissolution curves was calculated to compare the similarity.The in vitro dissolution data of the original preparation were combined with GastroPlus software to obtain the simulated in vivo absorption curves which were correlated with the actual concentration-time curves.The suitable dissolution medium was selected to evaluate the quality of domestic nifedipine sustained release tablets according to the better in vivo-in vitro correlation (IVIVC).The simulated in vivo absorption parameters obtained from the dissolution data combined with GastroPlus software were used to conduct the virtual bioequivalence study of domestic nifedipine sustained release tablets compared with the original products.Results: The f2 similar factors of the four domestic nifedipine sustained release tablets compared with the original preparation were all less than 50.Compared with that from the method in Japanese orange book, the correlation between the dissolution profiles in vitro and in vivo of original nifedipine sustained release tablets obtained from the method in Chinese Pharmacopoeia was better.The deviation between the simulated Cmax and AUC0-∞ values of the four test tablets and the measured values of the original preparation was within the range of ±20%.Conclusion: The dissolution curves of the four domestic nifedipine sustained release tablets are not similar to that of the original preparation, however, the four preparations are all bioequivalent to the original preparation according to the simulated absorption parameters based on the dissolution method in Chinese Pharmacopeia and GastroPlus software.

Application of quality by design in granulation process for ginkgo leaf tablet (Ⅳ)： influence and control of raw materials' quality variation / 中国中药杂志

Raw materials' quality variation could affect the quality consistency of product and the clinical efficacy. In this paper, the high shear wet granulation (HSWG) process of the ginkgo leaf tablet was taken as the research object. Ginkgo biloba extracts and excipients microcrystalline cellulose collected from various sources and batches were used to simulate raw materials' quality variation. Real-time torque was recorded to analyze the viscosity of the wetting mass, and then by combining with physical fingerprint, the impact of physical quality variation of powders on granule properties could be investigated. Based on regime map thesis, whether the granules' nucleation mode was in mechanical dispersion regime was determined by calculating dimensionless parameters, which would lead to the unstable output in considerations of granule yield ratio and particle size distribution (PSD) curve. The orthogonal partial least square (OPLS) model was adopted to build the relationship between the micromeritic properties and the mediangranule size (D50) of Ginkgo biloba granules and then the critical material attributes (CMAs) were screened by variable importance in the projection (VIP) indexes. The results demonstrated that the properties of powders including hygroscopicity, angle of repose, Hausner ratio, Carr index, D10 and loss on drying affected the granule size. Besides, Ginkgo biloba granules were compressed into tablets. In view of tensile strength analysis, the raw materials' quality variation did not result in decrease of tensile strength of the ginkgo leaf tablets. The design space of critical quality attributes (CQAs) and the process design space which could cope with raw materials' quality variation were proved to be robust..

Physical fingerprint for quality control of traditional Chinese medicine extract powders / 中国中药杂志

The physical properties of both raw materials and excipients are closely correlated with the quality of traditional Chinese medicine preparations in oral solid dosage forms. In this paper, based on the concept of the chemical fingerprint for quality control of traditional Chinese medicine products, the method of physical fingerprint for quality evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine extract powders was proposed. This novel physical fingerprint was built by the radar map, and consisted of five primary indexes (i.e. stackablity, homogeneity, flowability, compressibility and stability) and 12 secondary indexes (i.e. bulk density, tap density, particle size<50 μm percentage, relative homogeneity index, hausner ratio, angle of repose, powder flow time, inter-particle porosity, Carr index, cohesion index, loss on drying, hygroscopicity). Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) extract was taken for an example. This paper introduced the application of physical fingerprint in the evaluation of source-to-source and batch-to-batch quality consistence of PNS extract powders. Moreover, the physical fingerprint of PNS was built by calculating the index of parameters, the index of parametric profile and the index of good compressibility, in order to successfully predict the compressibility of the PNS extract powder and relevant formulations containing PNS extract powder and conventional pharmaceutical excipients. The results demonstrated that the proposed method could not only provide new insights into the development and process control of traditional Chinese medicine solid dosage forms.

Which one is more important, raw materials or productive technology?--a case study for quality consistency control of Gegen Qinlian decoction / 中国中药杂志

To investigate the effect of Chinese medicine raw materials and production technology on quality consistency of Chinese patent medicines with Gegen Qinlian decoction as an example, and establish a suitable method for the quality consistency control of Chinese patent medicines. The results showed that the effect of production technology on the quality consistency was generally not more than 5%, while the effect of raw materials was even more than 30%, indicating that the effect of raw materials was much greater than that of the production technology. In this study, blend technology was used to improve the quality consistency of raw materials. As a result, the difference between the product produced by raw materials and reference groups was less than 5%, thus increasing the quality consistence of finished products. The results showed that under the current circumstances, the main factor affecting the quality consistency of Chinese patent medicines was raw materials, so we shall pay more attention to the quality of Chinese medicine's raw materials. Finally, a blend technology can improve the quality consistency of Chinese patent medicines.

Establishment of dissolution curves test method of Ribavirin capsules and investigation with domestic ribavirin capsules of dissolution behavior / 中国生化药物杂志

Objective To establish the dissolution curves test method of Ribavirin capsules, and investigate dissolution behavior of domestic Ribavirin capsules.To provide experimental basis for generic drugs quality consistency evaluation.Methods According to the first dissolution method (basket method)stated in appendix Ⅹof Chinese Pharmacopeia(2010 edition),the rotation speed was 50 r/min with dissolution medium volume of 900 mL.The dissolution profiles of Ribavirin capsules in four different mediums( pH 1.2 hydrochloric acid solution,pH 4.5 acetic buffer,pH 6.8 phosphate buffer and water) were determined by HPLC.The determination was performed on C18 column with mobile phase consisted of 4 g/L sodium dihydrogen phosphate solution(pH adjusted to 5.0 ±0.05 using 5% sodium hydroxide solution)-acetonitrile(98:2)at the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min.The detection wavelength was 225 nm,and sample size was 10μL.Results The linear range of ribavirin was 2.5-200μg/mL(r=1).RSD of precision and stability tests were lower than 0.5%.The average recoveries were 101.3%, 100.7%, 100.2%, 100.4% in four mediums.Dissolution behavior of capsules can be more consistent and rapid dissolution in pH4.5 and pH6.8 mediums.But they were quite different in pH1.2 and water mediums, and some of their average dissolution at 15 min could not reach 85%.Conclusion This method is accurate and reliable.There is a difference between domestic Ribavirin capsules dissolution behavior, and the formulation processes have room for improvement.