Innovative method for the enrichment of high‐polarity bioactive molecules present at low concentrations in complex matrices

Ginsenoside Rg1 is a valuable bioactive molecule but its high polarity and low concentration in complex mixtures makes it a challenge to separate Ginsenoside Rg1 from other saponins with similar structures, resulting in low extraction efficiency. The successful development of effective Rg1 molecularly imprinted polymers that exhibit high selectivity and adsorption may offer an improved method for the enrichment of active compounds. In this work, molecularly imprinted polymers were prepared with two different methods, precipitation polymerization or surface imprinted polymerization. Comparison of the adsorption abilities showed higher adsorption of the surface molecularly imprinted polymers prepared by surface imprinted polymerization, 46.80 mg/g, compared to the 27.74 mg/g observed for the molecularly imprinted polymers prepared by precipitation polymerization. Therefore, for higher adsorption of the highly polar Rg1, surface imprinted polymerization is a superior technique to make Rg1 molecularly imprinted polymers. The prepared surface molecularly imprinted polymers were tested as a solid‐phase extraction column to directionally enrich Rg1 and its analogues from ginseng tea and total ginseng extracts. The column with surface molecularly imprinted polymers showed higher enrichment efficiency and better selectivity than a C₁₈ solid‐phase extraction column. Overall, a new, innovative method was developed to efficiently enrich high‐polarity bioactive molecules present at low concentrations in complex matrices.     

HPLC-ELSD测定茜芷胶囊中三七皂苷R1、人参皂苷Rg1及Rb1的含量

利用HPLC-ELSD对茜芷胶囊中的活性成分三七皂苷R1、人参皂苷Rg1和Rb1的含量进行测定.三七皂苷R1、人参皂苷Rg1及Rb1分别在0.13~2.60、0.30~6.00、0.38~7.60μg范围内呈现良好的线性关系,平均回收率分别为98.0%(RSD1.7%),97.1%(RSD1.8%),97.0%(RSD1.5%).该方法简便、准确、重现性好,可用于茜芷胶囊的质量控制.     

Simultaneous determination of saponins in flower buds of Panax notoginseng using high performance liquid chromatography

The flower buds of Panax notoginseng have been commonly used for the treatment of hypertension, vertigo, tinnitus and acute faucitis in China. The amount of total saponins in the flower buds is higher than in any other parts of P. notoginseng. However, the compositions of flower buds have not been quantified clearly until now. A sensitive and efficient high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) method was developed for the first time to simultaneously quantify eight active saponins in the flower buds of P. notoginseng, including notoginsenoside R(1) and ginsenosides Rg(1), Re, Rb(1), Rb(2), Rb(3), Rd and F(2). The analysis was performed on a reversed-phase C(18) column with gradient elution of acetonitrile and 0.01% aqueous formic acid. The proposed method provided good linearity, reproducibility and sensitivity for the simultaneous quantification of the investigated saponins with overall intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy of better than 4.1% (RSD) and higher than 95% (accuracy), respectively. The recoveries for all the saponins determined were in the range 94.7-104.8% with RSD better than 3.1%. Using the optimized method, we were able to analyze samples from different villages of Wenshan Prefecture, China, which is helpful for quality control of flower buds of P. notoginseng.     

Two Key Amino Acids Variant of α-l-arabinofuranosidase from Bacillus subtilis Str. 168 with Altered Activity for Selective Conversion Ginsenoside Rc to Rd

α-l-arabinofuranosidase is a subfamily of glycosidases involved in the hydrolysis of l-arabinofuranosidic bonds, especially in those of the terminal non-reducing arabinofuranosyl residues of glycosides, from which efficient glycoside hydrolases can be screened for the transformation of ginsenosides. In this study, the ginsenoside Rc-hydrolyzing α-l-arabinofuranosidase gene, BsAbfA, was cloned from Bacilus subtilis, and its codons were optimized for efficient expression in E. coli BL21 (DE3). The recombinant protein BsAbfA fused with an N-terminal His-tag was overexpressed and purified, and then subjected to enzymatic characterization. Site-directed mutagenesis of BsAbfA was performed to verify the catalytic site, and the molecular mechanism of BsAbfA catalyzing ginsenoside Rc was analyzed by molecular docking, using the homology model of sequence alignment with other β-glycosidases. The results show that the purified BsAbfA had a specific activity of 32.6 U/mg. Under optimal conditions (pH 5, 40 °C), the kinetic parameters K_m of BsAbfA for pNP-α-Araf and ginsenoside Rc were 0.6 mM and 0.4 mM, while the K_cat/K_m were 181.5 s⁻¹ mM⁻¹ and 197.8 s⁻¹ mM⁻¹, respectively. More than 90% of ginsenoside Rc could be transformed by 12 U/mL purified BsAbfA at 40 °C and pH 5 in 24 h. The results of molecular docking and site-directed mutagenesis suggested that the E173 and E292 variants for BsAbfA are important in recognizing ginsenoside Rc effectively, and to make it enter the active pocket to hydrolyze the outer arabinofuranosyl moieties at C₂₀ position. These remarkable properties and the catalytic mechanism of BsAbfA provide a good alternative for the effective biotransformation of the major ginsenoside Rc into Rd.     

基体辅助激光解吸电离飞行时间质谱用于人参皂甙Rg3的定量分析

考察了基体辅助激光解吸电离时间飞行质谱用于人参皂甙Rg3 定量分析时内标的选择。加入棉子糖作为内标时 ,Rg3 的定量标准曲线的回归系数R2 =0 .938,平均相对误差为 2 8 6 % ;加入性质相近的芦丁后 ,Rg3 的定量标准曲线的回归系数R2 =0 993,平均相对误差为 7 5 %。分辨率的提高以及采用Rg3 和内标物的质谱峰的相对面积来代表Rg3 的浓度可以使定量的重现性明显改善     

Anti-allergic Effects of Ginsenosides Extracted by High Temperature and High Pressure Method

Ginseng(Panax ginseng C. A. Mey.) is a traditional medicinal herb in Asia. Studies have shown that ginsenosides significantly affect immunoregulation and rare ginsenosides have anti-allergic effects. In this research, a high temperature and high pressure method was utilized to increase the contents of rare ginsenosides in the ginseng extract(GE). The anti-allergic effects of this extract were investigated in vivo. Water was used as the extraction solvent in extracting the rare ginsenosides via the high temperature and high pressure method. Extraction time and temperature were investigated in order to increase the contents of rare ginsenosides. Rare ginsenosides were qualitatively analyzed by HPLC-ESI-MS and quantitatively analyzed by HPLC-UV. Anti-allergic effects of the extracts were assessed using the ovalbumin(OVA)-induced allergic asthma model in vivo. An extraction temperature of 145℃ and extraction time of 2.0 h were chosen as the optimal conditions. Compared with traditional method, the contents of total rare ginsenosides extracted were considerably higher using the new method, that is, 14.74 times that extracted by the traditional method. In our in vivo experiments, treatment with high concentration GE may have anti-allergic effects in decreasing the total amount of IgE in serum and IL-4 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF), and in improving the ratio of CD4⁺ to CD8⁺ T cells. The high temperature and high pressure method was an effective method to obtain GE containing more rare ginsenosides, which maybe become anti-allergic agents.     

Characterization of ginsenoside compound K metabolites in rat urine and feces by ultra‐performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry

Ginsenoside compound K (CK) is an active metabolite of ginsenoside and has been shown to have ameliorative property in various diseases. However, the detailed in vivo metabolism of this compound has rarely been reported. In the present study, a method using liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry together with multiple data processing techniques, including extracted ion chromatogram, multiple mass defect filter and MS/MS scanning, was developed to detect and characterize the metabolites of CK in rat urine and feces. After oral administration of CK at a dose of 50 mg/kg, urine and feces were collected for a period of time and subjected to a series of pretreatment. A total of 12 metabolites were tentatively or conclusively identified, comprising 11 phase I metabolites and a phase II metabolite. Metabolic pathways of CK has been proposed, including oxidation, deglycosylation, deglycosylation with sequential oxidation and dehydrogenation and deglycosylation with sequential glucuronidation. Relative quantitative analyses suggested that deglycosylation was the main metabolic pathway. The result could offer insights for better understanding of the mechanism of its pharmacological activities.     

Pharmacokinetics and bioavailability study of ginsenoside Rk1 in rat by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Ginsenoside Rk1 (Rk1) exhibited various potent biological activities. However, its pharmacokinetic profile in vivo remains unclear. In the present study, a simple and sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for determination of Rk1 in rat plasma and applied in a pharmacokinetic study. The sample was precipitated with acetonitrile and separated on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB C18 column (50 × 2.1 mm, 1.8 μm). The mobile phase was composed of 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. Rk1 and internal standard (ginsenoside Rg3) were quantitatively monitored with precursor‐to‐product ion transitions of m/z 765.4 → 441.5 and m/z 783.5 → 621.4, respectively. The assay was linear over the concentration range of 5–1000 ng/mL (r > 0.99) with the LLOQ of 5 ng/mL. Other parameters including intra‐ and inter‐day precision and accuracy, extraction recovery and matrix effect were within the acceptable limits. The analyte was stable under the tested storage conditions. The validated method has been successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of Rk1 in rat plasma after intravenous (5 mg/kg) and oral (25 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg) administration. After oral administration, Rk1 could be detected in blood at 30 min and reached the highest concentration at 4.29~4.57 h. Our results demonstrated that Rk1 showed low clearance, moderate half‐life (3.09–3.40 h) and low bioavailability (2.87–4.23%). The study will provide information for the further application of Rk1.     

Determination of ginsenoside Rh3 in rat plasma by LC–MS/MS and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

Ginsenoside Rh3 (GRh3) is a bacterial metabolite of ginsenoside Rg5, which is the main component of hot-processed ginseng. A simple, efficient and sensitive method was developed and validated for the determination of GRh3 in rat plasma by LC–tandem mass spectrometry. After protein precipitation with methanol/acetonitrile (1:1, vol/vol) using propranolol as the internal standard, the target analytes were separated on an XDB C₁₈ column, with methanol containing 0.1% formic acid and water containing 0.1% formic acid used as mobile phases for gradient elution. Mass spectrometry was performed in electrospray ion source–positive ion mode and multiple reaction monitoring mode, monitoring the transitions m/z 622.5 → 425.5 and m/z 260.1 → 116.1 for GRh3 and internal standard, respectively. The concentration range of GRh3 was 20–20,000 ng/mL and the correlation coefficient (r²) was greater than 0.99. The accuracy error and relative standard deviation were below 15%. The extraction recovery and matrix effect were 74.2% to 78.7% and 96.9% to 108.4%, respectively. Under different conditions, GRh3 was stable in the range of 1.8%–8.7%. This method has been successfully applied to study the pharmacokinetics of GRh3 with an oral dose of 10.0 mg/kg and an intravenous dose of 2.0 mg/kg in rats, respectively. The absolute bioavailability of GRh3 was 37.6%.     

Pharmacokinetic effects of ginsenoside Rg1 on aconitine,benzoylaconine and aconine by UHPLC–MS/MS

Ginseng and aconite are well-known couplet medicinals. Ginsenoside Rg1 is the main active ingredient in ginseng, and aconitine (AC), benzoylaconine (BAC) and aconine (ACN) are three representative alkaloids in aconite, which belong to the diester alkaloids, monoester alkaloids and alkanolamine alkaloids respectively. The aim of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetic effects of ginsenoside Rg1 on the three types of alkaloids and to provide evidences for their compatibility mechanism. In this study, the ginsenoside Rg1 was simultaneously intragastrically administered to rats with AC, BAC and ACN, respectively, and the rat plasma was collected at different time points. The plasma drug concentrations of the three types of alkaloids were determined by UHPLC–MS/MS, and the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. The results indicated that the peak concentration and area under the concentration–time curve of BAC were significantly increased (P < 0.05), those for AC were decreased (P < 0.05), and the values for ACN did not change after pretreatment with ginsenoside Rg1. It was inferred that ginsenoside Rg1 may affect the absorption and metabolism of AC and BAC and then change their pharmacokinetic parameters. Subsequently, their absorption and metabolism were further investigated using the Caco-2 cell monolayer and rat liver microsomes in vitro. The Caco-2 cell monolayer absorption assay indicated that ginsenoside Rg1 could promote the absorption of AC and BAC, and the rat liver microsomes metabolism assay indicated that ginsenoside Rg1 accelerated the metabolism of AC and did not affect the other two alkaloids. All of the results indicated that ginsenoside Rg1 may reduce the toxicity of aconite and improve its efficacy by promoting the absorption of BAC and accelerating the metabolism of AC. These results could provide evidence for the compatibility mechanism of the traditional Chinese herbal formula Shenfu Decoction.