Simultaneous Analysis of Twelve Bile Acids by UPLC-MS and Exploration of the Processing Mechanism of Bile Arisaema by Fermentation.

Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (Q/TOF-MS) in the MS/MS mode and UPLC coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (QqQ-MS) using the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode were used to make a qualitative and quantitative analysis of twelve bile acids in Bile Arisaema. The fragmentation pathway of twelve bile acids was proposed. The quantification method showed a good linearity over a wide concentration range (R 2 > 0.99), repeatability (RSD < 4.12%), stability (RSD < 4.25%), precision (RSD < 4.06%), and recovery (95.36-102.15%). Content of twelve compounds in Bile Arisaema varied significantly depending on region. Chemometric methods, hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA), and principal components analysis (PCA) were successfully used to optimize the fermentation time of the Bile Arisaema. The results suggested that the Bile Arisaema could complete fermentation in 15 days. The possible processing mechanism of Bile Arisaema promoted the transformation of conjugated bile acids into free bile acids in fermentation.

Metabolomic study of raw and processed Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz by LC-MS.

Bai-Zhu, the dried rhizome of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz (AMK), is widely used as a tonic herbal in eastern Asia. It is commonly used as prepared slices in clinic by stir-frying with wheat bran (processed AMK). In the theories of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Bai-Zhu possesses significantly different therapeutic effects before and after processing. However, the molecular mechanics of this processing is still unknown. In this paper, the strategy of metabolomics was employed to investigate the changes of chemical constituents in Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz after processing. Meanwhile, the cell activity test variation of processed and unprocessed medicine was used to interpret the processing mechanism of AMK. Using ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS) with the method of multivariate statistic analyses including principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), atractylenolide I, atractylenolide II, atractylenolide III, atractylenolide VI, 7-hydroxycoumarin, 8-ß-methoxy atractylenolide I and Selina-4 (14), 7 (11)-dien-8-one were rapidly explored as the potential chemical markers of raw and processed AMK, respectively. Furthermore, it could be speculated that the processing mechanism of AMK was to increase the content of atractylenolide III which could strengthen the effect on gastrointestinal function.