Historical evolution of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma processing methods / 中国中药杂志

China has a long history of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma processing with multiple methods available. The pre-sent study collated and summarized the Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma processing methods recorded in 23 related herbal medicine books, all editions of Chinese Pharmacopoeia, the 1988 edition of National Regulations for Processing of Chinese Medicine, and 20 current local processing specifications and standards. The results demonstrated various processing methods of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, such as removing residual part of stem, plantlet, or soil, smashing, filing, cutting, decocting, washing with wine, soaking in wine, and stir-frying with wine or blood from pig heart, while raw and wine-processed products are mainly used in modern times. Due to the lack of unified standards, the phenomena of multiple methods adopted in one place and different methods in different places have led to uneven quality of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma pieces, even affecting the safety and effectiveness of its clinical medication. This study is expected to provide a reference for the development of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma processing and its rational medication.

Simultaneous determination of seven constituents in Gnaphalium affine / 中成药

AIM To establish an HPLC method for the simultaneous content determination of seven constituents in Gnaphalium affine D.Don.METHODS The analysis of 80％ methanol of G.affine was performed on a 30 ℃ Atlantis (C) T3 column (4.6 mm× 250 mm,5 μm),with the mobile phase comprising of acetonitrile-formic acid flowing at 1.0 mL/min in a gradient elution manner,and the detection wavelength was set at 288 nm.RESULTS Seven constituents showed good linear relationships within their own ranges (R2 ≥0.999 8),whose average recoveries were 98.58％-103.8％ with the RSDs of 0.88％-1.74％.CONCLUSION This accurate,stable and reproducible method can be used for the quality control of G.affine.

An HPLC-MS/MS method for the quantitative determination of platycodin D in rat plasma and its application to the pharmacokinetics of Platycodi Radix extract / 中国天然药物

AIMS@#To develop an HPLC-MS/MS method for the quantification of platycodin D (PD) in rat plasma, and to acquire the main pharmacokinetic parameters of PD after oral administration of pure PD or of Platycodi Radix extract (PRE) containing PD.@*METHOD@#Plasma samples were pretreated with solid-phase extraction using an Oasis® HLB SPE cartridge. Madecassoside was used as the internal standard (IS). Chromatographic separation was achieved on an ODS column (100 mm × 2.1 mm i.d., 3.5 μm) with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile/water (30 : 70, V/V) containing 0.1 mmol·L(-1) ammonium acetate at a flow rate of 0.25 mL·min(-1). The detection was performed on a triple quadruple tandem mass spectrometer using an electrospray ionization (ESI) source with a chromatographic run time of 3.0 min. The detection was operated by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of the transitions of m/z 1 223.6→469.2 for PD and of m/z 973.6→469.2 for madecassoside (IS), respectively.@*RESULTS@#The calibration curve was linear from 5 to 2 000 ng·mL(-1) (r(2) >0.99) with a lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of 5 ng·mL(-1). The intra- and inter-day precision (relative standard deviation, RSD) values were below 15% and the accuracy (relative error, RE) was from -15% to +15% at three quality control (QC) levels. Plasma concentrations of PD were determined for 24 h after i.v. administration of PD, and oral administration of PD and PRE, respectively. The absolute oral bioavailability of PD in rats was found to be (0.48 ± 0.19)% when administered PD, and to be (1.81 ± 0.89)% when administered PRE.@*CONCLUSION@#The developed HPLC-MS/MS method was successfully applied to assess the pharmacokinetic parameters and oral bioavailability of PD in rats after administration of PD and Platycodi Radix extract.

Fingerprint analysis of Zhimu-Huangbai herb pair and simultaneous determination of its alkaloids, xanthone glycosides and steroidal saponins by HPLC-DAD-ELSD / 中国天然药物

AIM@#To develop and validate a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with diode array and evaporative light scattering detectors (DAD-ELSD) method for the quantitative determination and fingerprint analysis of ten active constituents in three chemical classes (namely, xanthone glycosides, steroidal saponins, and alkaloids) in Zhimu-Huangbai herb pair (ZB).@*METHOD@#Chromatographic separation was performed on a Diamonsil C18 column (4.6 mm × 250 mm, 5 μm, Dikma) by gradient elution using acetic acid in acetonitrile solution at a flow rate of 1.0 mL·min(-1) at 260 nm. The drift tube temperature of ELSD was set to 60 °C and nebulizer gas pressure was 4.0 Bar. Method validation was performed to assure its linearity, limits of detection and quantification, precision, repeatability, stability, and accuracy.@*RESULTS@#The HPLC-DAD-ELSD method allowed the quantification of ten compounds (phellodendrine, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, berberine, neomangiferin, mangiferin, timosaponin E-I, timosaponin B-II, timosaponin B, and timosaponin A-III), and was successfully applied to fingerprint analysis for ten batches of ZB samples.@*CONCLUSION@#This was the first time to apply the combination of DAD and ELSD for the simultaneous determination of ten active ingredients in ZB. The results showed that the combination of quantitative analysis for marker ingredients and chemical fingerprint for the TCM herb pair provides a potentially powerful, widely introduced, and internationally accepted strategy for assessment of complex TCM formulas.

Coumarins from root of Zanthoxylum dimorphophyllum var. spinifolium / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the chemical components from dried roots of Zanthoxylum dimorphophyllum var. spinifoliun.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The chemical components were isolated by low pressure column chromatography and their structures were identified by spectroscopic methods.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Five compounds were isolated and identified as 6-(2', 3'-dihydroxy-3'-methyl-butyl)-7-hydroxy-5-methoxy-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one (I), 6-(2',3'-dihydroxy-3'-methyl-butyl)-7-methoxy-8-(3'-methyl-but-2'-enyl)-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one (II),6-(2',3'-dihydroxy-3'-methyl-butyl)-7-hydroxy-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one (III), 6-(2', 3'-oxiranyl-3'-methyl-butyl)-7-methoxy-8- (3-methyl-but-2-enyl)-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one (IV), 7-methoxy-8-(3'-methyl-but-2'-enyl)-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one (V).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>These compounds were isolated from the plant for the first time.</p>

Studies on the coumarins in the root of Zanthoxylum dimorphophyllum / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the chemical constituents of the dried roots of Zanthoxylum dimorphophyllumr. spinifolium and to find out the active constituents of the plant.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Modern chromatography was used to purify chemical constituents, and their structures were identified by various spectral methods.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Four compounds were isolated and identified as isopimpinellin (I), xanthoxyletin (II), 6-(2', 3'-dihydroxy-3'-methyl-butyl)-7-hydroxy-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one (III), 6-(2'-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy, 3'-dihydroxy-3'-methybutyl)-7-hydroxy-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one (IV).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>All of the above compounds were isolated from the above mentioned plant for the first time.</p>