Variable selection for discriminating herbal medicines with chromatographic fingerprints

When discriminating herbal medicines with pattern recognition based on chromatographic fingerprints, typically, the majority of variables/data points contain no discrimination information. In this paper, chemometric approaches concerning forward selection and key set factor analysis using principal component analysis (PCA), unweighted and weighted methods based on the inner- and outer-variances, Fisher coefficient from the between- and within-class variations were investigated to extract representative variables. The number of variables retained was determined based on the cumulative variance percent of principal components, the ratio of observations to variables and the factor indicative function (IND). In order to assess the methods for variable selection and criteria levels to determine the number of variables retained, the original and reduced datasets were compared with Procrustes analysis and a weighted measure of similarity. Moreover, the tri-variate plots of the first three PCA scores were used to visually examine the reduced datasets in low dimensional space. Herbal samples were finally discriminated by use of Bayes discrimination analysis with the reduced subsets. The case study for 79 herbal samples showed that, the methods of forward selection associating the variables with the loadings closest to 0 and key set factor analysis were preferable to determine the representative variables. Procrustes analysis and the weighted measure were not indicative to extract representative variables. High matching between the original and reduced datasets did not suggest high prediction accuracy. Visually examining the PC1-PC2-PC3 scores projection plots with the reduced subsets, not all the herb samples could be separated due to the complexity of chromatographic fingerprints.     

色谱指纹图谱在中药质量控制中的应用

介绍了色谱指纹图谱在中药质量控制体系,即中药真实性鉴定(化学指纹图谱)、有效性评价(谱效学、生物指纹图谱、代谢指纹图谱)以及安全性评价方面的应用。目前化学指纹图谱在中药的真实性鉴定方面已比较成熟;谱效学、生物指纹图谱和代谢指纹图谱由于与药效活性相关,在中药的有效性评价中已体现出优势;色谱指纹图谱在中药的安全性评价方面的应用也愈来愈受到重视。     

Chromatographic separation techniques and data handling methods for herbal fingerprints: a review

As herbal medicines have an important position in health care systems worldwide, their current assessment and quality control are a major bottleneck. Over the past decade, major steps were taken not only to improve the quality of the herbal products but also to develop analytical methods ensuring their quality. Nowadays, chromatographic fingerprinting is the generally accepted technique for the assessment and quality control of herbal products. This paper briefly considers the evolution of the regulations and guidelines on the quality control of herbal medicines, and reviews the established analytical techniques for herbal fingerprinting with an emphasis on the most recent developments, such as miniaturized techniques, new stationary phases, analysis at high temperatures and multi-dimensional chromatography. Accessory to the new analytical techniques, the chemometric data handling techniques applied are discussed. Chemometrics provide scientists with useful tools in understanding the huge amounts of data generated by the analytical advances and prove to be valuable for quality control, classification and modelling of, and discrimination between herbal fingerprints.     

Comparing chemical fingerprints of herbal medicines using modified window target-testing factor analysis

A chromatographic fingerprint of a herbal medicine is essentially its chromatographic spectrum: a characteristic representation of its chemical components, some of which are pharmacologically active. Since a wide variety of factors, such as the geographical location, the harvest season, and the part used can influence the chemical constituents (and therefore the pharmacological activity) of any particular herbal medicine and its products, these fingerprints provide a way to compare and contrast the compositions of different variants of the same herbal medicine. In particular, it is possible to ascertain whether particular components present in one herbal fingerprint are also present in another fingerprint. In this work we use a novel method—modified window target-testing factor analysis (MWTTFA), based on the use of target factor analysis (TFA), fixed-size moving window evolving factor analysis (FSMWEFA) and a Gaussian shape correction to the chromatographic profiles—to achieve this end. To demostrate the strategy, the fingerprints of samples from garlics produced in different geographical locations were compared, as well as the fingerprints of samples taken from above-ground and below-ground parts of Houttuynia cordata Thunb. The results from these comparisons clearly show that four chemical components present in Hunan common edible garlic are absent in Xingping base garlic, while seven components are present in Xingping base garlic but absent in Hunan common edible garlic. Also, eleven components are present in the sample from the above-ground part of Houttuynia cordata Thunb but not in the sample from the below-ground part, while seven components are present in the sample from the below-ground part of Houttuynia cordata Thunb that are not present in the sample from the above-ground part. These interesting conclusions should be very useful for future pharmacological and clinical research into these herbal medicines, and the novel MWTTFA technique can also be used for quality control purposes.     

Quality evaluation of fingerprints of herbal medicine with chromatographic data

In this study, local least squares (LLS) and principal component analysis (PCA) were applied to deal with the disturbances in a data set of chromatographic fingerprints after necessary data transformations. It has been demonstrated that PCA with standard normal variate (SNV) transformation of data led to meaningful classification of 33 different Erigeron breviscapus herbal samples. The result was also corroborated by variance squares discriminant method. The quality of herbal objects was further evaluated, and the causes of this fact have been explained from a chemical point of view. At the same time, it implied an idea for qualitative evaluation of the herbal objects with a common class pattern of chromatographic fingerprints.     

中药色谱指纹图谱相似度计算中保留时间校正方法的研究

从保留时间校正方法对线性推移、非线性推移和时间延迟的校正效果方面探讨了保留时间校正方法的适用范围。认为一点法校正仅能校正线性推移;两点法可以校正时间延迟和线性推移,并能部分校正非线性推移。多点法使用分段线性逼近的方法对非线性推移有良好的校正效果。     

平行五波长高效液相色谱指纹图谱全息整合法定量鉴定杞菊地黄丸的整体质量

建立了杞菊地黄丸(Qijudihuang Pill, QJDHP)平行五波长(PFW)高效液相色谱(HPLC)指纹图谱,并依据系统指纹定量法结合全息整合法定量鉴定了杞菊地黄丸的整体质量。采用反相HPLC法,以丹皮酚(POL)为参照物峰,分别于203、228、265、280和326 nm下检测,分别确定了51、49、52、49和47个共有指纹峰,建立了QJDHP的PFW-HPLC指纹图谱。分别以权重法、均值法和投影参数法整合5个波长下各样品的定性定量全信息,结果基于5个波长综合信息用系统指纹定量法鉴定11批QJDHP样品,其中有8批质量为好,1批为较好,质量一般为2批。评价时以均值法最为简捷和准确。本实验结果表明,平行多波长指纹图谱整合法是基于从全信息角度整体定性和定量鉴定中药质量的有效可信方法,是对HPLC-二极管阵列检测（DAD）三维指纹图谱的简化定量处理,其整体综合定量鉴定结果具有可靠性。     

Application of genetic algorithm‐support vector regression (GA‐SVR) for quantitative analysis of herbal medicines

In this paper, a genetic algorithm‐support vector regression (GA‐SVR) coupled approach was proposed for investigating the relationship between fingerprints and properties of herbal medicines. GA was used to select variables so as to improve the predictive ability of the models. Two other widely used approaches, Random Forests (RF) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) combined with GA (namely GA‐RF and GA‐PLSR, respectively), were also employed and compared with the GA‐SVR method. The models were evaluated in terms of the correlation coefficient between the measured and predicted values (Rp), root mean square error of prediction, and root mean square error of leave‐one‐out cross‐validation. The performance has been tested on a simulated system, a chromatographic data set, and a near‐infrared spectroscopic data set. The obtained results indicate that the GA‐SVR model provides a more accurate answer, with higher Rp and lower root mean square error. The proposed method is suitable for the quantitative analysis and quality control of herbal medicines. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

仿刺参中皂苷类成分的高效液相色谱指纹图谱

利用高效液相色谱法建立了仿刺参皂苷类成分的指纹图谱,为仿刺参的质量控制提供了新的方法。采用固相萃取制备供试品溶液,选用Zorbox SB-C18色谱柱(250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μm),以乙腈-0.1%磷酸水溶液为流动相进行梯度洗脱,检测波长为205 nm,柱温30 ℃。分析了不同产地的10批仿刺参样品,采用国家药典委员会推荐的“中药色谱指纹图谱相似度评价系统(2004 A版)”处理谱图,确定了6个共有峰。计算了10个样本间的指纹图谱相似度,所得相似度计算结果均大于0.97。该方法具有良好的稳定性和重现性,可用于仿刺参的质量控制。     

用高效液相色谱组方指纹图谱智能预测中药质量的新模式

建立大黄、黄芩、黄连的高效液相色谱(HPLC)组方指纹图谱,确定其融合模型,观察组方融合指纹图谱(CSF)与一清片复方样品指纹图谱的一致性,从而以CSF代替复方整体来智能预测复方制剂质量。用二极管阵列检测器(DAD)同时测定黄芩、大黄、黄连和一清片在268 nm波长下的HPLC指纹图谱,并使用系统指纹定量法进行定性、定量评价。结果 CSF涵盖各单味药主要色谱峰信息,即CSF共有峰(55个)涵盖一清片样品共有峰(50个)的主要指纹图谱信息。15批样品的质量除YQT-S01为5级外,其他质量均为3级及以上。各组合模式CSF质量除CSF-2为6级外,其余均为2级或1级。该文探讨了标准指纹图谱和中药组方融合指纹图谱的相关性,可以与相应的计算机评价软件相结合,通过组方融合指纹图谱所代表复方制剂的整体指纹图谱来实现智能预测中药成方制剂质量的新模式。     

Thin-layer chromatographic fingerprinting of the nonvolatile fraction extracted from the medicinal herb Cistus incanus L.

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to provide the first from-start-to-end thin-layer chromatographic method of fingerprinting the Cistus incanus L. raw herbal material, with a purpose to further use it for rapid screening, authentication, and quality control of the traded C. incanus L. herbs. To this effect, 12 different C. incanus L. samples purchased as herbal teas from a local market were extracted by means of the accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) with chemometrically optimized solvent extraction mixture and temperature (methanol–water, 27:73, v/v; 130°C), to derive the polar fraction from the plant samples. Then, the extracts were developed in two thin-layer chromatographic systems, both using the commercially precoated silica gel 60 chromatographic plates, yet two different mobile phases (mobile phase 1, ethyl acetate–formic acid–acetic acid–water, 100:11:11:13, v/v/v/v, and mobile phase 2, ethyl acetate–dichloromethane–formic acid–acetic acid–water, 100:10:10:10:11, v/v/v/v/v). The chromatograms were densitometrically scanned in the reflectance mode at the wavelength λ?=?366?nm to obtain fingerprints of the extracts derived from individual C. incanus L. samples. Mobile phase 2 performed slightly better, because with its use, the maximum number of 11 peaks could be seen in the respective fingerprints, whereas with mobile phase 1, the maximum number of 10 peaks only. Then an antioxidant potential of the investigated herbal extracts was assessed, making use of mobile phase 2 and the 0.20% methanol solution of 2,2-diphenyl picrylhydrazyl as a visualizing reagent. The resulting chromatograms were densitometrically scanned in the extinction mode at the wavelength λ?=?550?nm to obtain biological fingerprints of the extracts. Finally, chromatographic and biological fingerprints underwent a semiquantitative evaluation in terms of the contents of the extracted polar fraction and an overall antioxidant potential of the individual plant species.     

百合知母汤的高效液相色谱指纹图谱及其与组方药味的相关性

研究和建立了百合知母汤的高效液相色谱(HPLC)指纹图谱,为研究百合知母汤的药效物质基础及配伍变化提供了手段。采用Agela Venusil XBP-C18色谱柱(250 mm × 4.6 mm,5 μm),以乙腈和0.1%甲酸为流动相二元梯度洗脱,流速1 mL/min,检测波长315 nm,柱温25 ℃。以芒果苷为参照物,在相同的色谱条件下测定了10批不同产地的百合与知母制备的百合知母汤的指纹图谱,获得了16个共有指纹峰,通过与对照品的保留时间及紫外光谱比较,标定了5-羟甲基糠醛(5-HMF)、新芒果苷、芒果苷、异芒果苷、王百合苷B的出峰位置。该方法得到的百合知母汤的指纹图谱特征性和重现性较好,方法稳定、可靠,可以为百合知母汤的质量控制提供参考。通过实验归属了百合知母汤指纹图谱中的主要色谱峰,并确定了煎煮过程中的主要变化成分为5-HMF。     

基于香气成分气相色谱-质谱指纹图谱的判别分析和相似度评价用于绿茶等级差异研究

该文以研究指纹图谱在绿茶等级判别方面应用的可行性为目的。以信阳毛尖茶为研究对象，以茶汤香气成分为研究目标，采用顶空固相微萃取与气相色谱-质谱联用技术，筛选其香气特征成分，建立不同等级信阳毛尖茶香气成分GC-MS指纹图谱。发现运用判别分析法可以对2个系列7个等级41个信阳毛尖茶样进行很好的等级区分；通过不同等级色谱指纹图谱的相似度计算发现，相似度与茶样等级之间具有较好的相关性，尤其是对于品质较好的茶样，这种相关性更好。表明运用判别分析法和相似度计算方法能够反映绿茶等级之间的差异性，且基于相似度评价的方法具有客观量化的特征。     

阿胶、龟甲胶中脂溶性成分的高效液相色谱指纹图谱

采用高效液相色谱法研究并建立东阿阿胶、龟甲胶脂溶性成分的指纹图谱,为药用动物胶的质量控制提供了有效的方法。采用液-液-液三相静态萃取方法制备样品,以水-乙腈为流动相进行二元梯度洗脱,检测波长为205 nm,柱温25 ℃,分析时间为60 min。采集20批样品的色谱图并对其进行相似度和聚类分析。分别标定了阿胶、龟甲胶的共有峰,其相似度分析及聚类分析结果显示两种胶间存在着明显的差异。该方法稳定可靠,可以有效地区别不同种属的药用动物胶,为动物胶剂的鉴别及质量控制提供了依据。     

Field-induced wooden-tip electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for high-throughput analysis of herbal medicines

This study demonstrates the first application of field-induced wooden-tip electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry (MS) for high-throughput analysis of herbal medicines. By application of an opposite and sample-contactless high voltage on the MS inlet rather than wooden tips, a high-throughput analysis device is easily set up, and a relatively fast analysis speed of 6 s per sample was successfully achieved. In addition, fast polarity switching between positive and negative ion detection mode is readily accomplished, which provides more complete chemical information for quality assessment and control of herbal medicines. By using the proposed method, various active ingredients present in different herbal medicines were rapidly detected, and the obtained mass spectra were served as the samples' fingerprints for tracing the origins, establishing the authenticity, and assessing the quality consistency and stability of herbal medicines. Our experimental results demonstrated that field-induced wooden-tip ESI-MS is a desirable method for high-throughput analysis of herbal medicines, with promising prospects for rapidly differentiating the origin, determining the authenticity, and assessing the overall quality of pharmaceuticals.     

Role of counter-current chromatography in the modernisation of Chinese herbal medicines

This review focuses on the growing popularity of using counter-current chromatography (CCC), with its liquid stationary phase, as one of the prime methods for isolating compounds from Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs). 198 publications are reviewed covering 108 different plant species from 56 plant families. These describe the isolation of 354 different molecules across a wide range of polarities, chemical classes and molecular weights (in the range 100–1000 Da). The suitability of CCC for the separation of active compounds from CHM, the phase systems used, how CCC has developed in China, compounds isolated, CCC instrumentation, performance, operational issues and innovations, all supported by detailed cross-referencing, are described. It is concluded that CCC is making an increasingly important contribution to the modernisation of Chinese herbal medicines.     

高效液相色谱-线性指纹定量法评价人参归脾丸的三波长指纹图谱

以样品指纹向量与对照指纹向量的多元化学组分间存在线性函数关系为基础,引入相关系数r、斜率a、截距b及线性定性相似度S_L、线性定量相似度M_L等概念,建立线性指纹定量法(linearly quantified fingerprint method, LQFM)模型以定性、定量控制中药质量。用高效液相色谱-二极管阵列检测法(HPLC-DAD)同时测定了10批人参归脾丸(Renshen Guipi Wan, RSGPW)分别在203、228和326 nm下的高效液相色谱指纹图谱,运用LQFM理论模型,鉴定RSGPW质量。LQFM能显著区别不同来源的产品,同一厂家产品质量控制一致。鉴定结果与已知的系统指纹定量法评价结果对比,LQFM对中药多元化学成分的复杂系统能实现客观的定性、定量评价。多波长指纹图谱能最大限度地兼顾中药各成分的紫外吸收特征,对中药质量控制具有更全面和可靠的特点。     

Integration of ground aerogel particles as chromatographic stationary phase into microchip

C16 modified and ground monolithic silica aerogel particles in submicrometer size, as a new type of stationary phase was prepared and integrated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchip. The aerogel particles were packed into the microfluidic channel using a simple procedure, which does not require any special frit or fabrication step to retain the particles. The subnanoliter volume of samples can be transported through the porous, short length of packing with low pressure (< 3 bar). Food dyes as test components could be separated using low pressure within 6s. A 50-fold preconcentration could be achieved by retaining 100 nL volume of sample on the packing and elution with methanol.     

A Method for Clustering and Screening of Long-dimensional Chemical Data Based on Fingerprints and Similarity Measurements

A method for the treatment of long-dimensional chemical data arrays is presented in this work with the aim of maximising classification models. The method is based on the construction of fingerprints and the subsequent generation of a similarity matrix. The similarity calculation has been modified through a scaling process to take into account different significance shown by the variables. The method was applied to spectral measurements of wines and several aspects were studied, namely: threshold considered in the construction of fingerprints and patterns, weighting factor used for scaling, normalisation method, etc. The application of both Principal Components Analysis and Soft-Independent Modelling of Class Analogies to the similarity matrices gave better classifications of the information than those obtained using original data.     

Quality evaluation of Shenmaidihuang Pills based on the chromatographic fingerprints and simultaneous determination of seven bioactive constituents

In this study, we aimed to establish a comprehensive and practical quality evaluation system for Shenmaidihuang pills. A simple and reliable high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection method was developed both for fingerprint analysis and quantitative determination. In fingerprint analysis, relative retention time and relative peak area were used to identify the common peaks in 18 samples for investigation. Twenty one peaks were selected as the common peaks to evaluate the similarities of 18 Shenmaidihuang pills samples with different manufacture dates. Furthermore, similarity analysis was applied to evaluate the similarity of samples. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were also performed to evaluate the variation of Shenmaidihuang pills. In quantitative analysis, linear regressions, injection precisions, recovery, repeatability and sample stability were all tested and good results were obtained to simultaneously determine the seven identified compounds, namely, 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural, morroniside, loganin, paeonol, paeoniflorin, psoralen, isopsoralen in Shenmaidihuang pills. The contents of some analytes in different batches of samples indicated significant difference, especially for 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural. So, it was concluded that the chromatographic fingerprint method obtained by high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection associated with multiple compounds determination is a powerful and meaningful tool to comprehensively conduct the quality control of Shenmaidihuang pills.