Separation and determination of active components in Schisandra chinensis Baill. and its medicinal preparations by non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis

A simple, economical and effective non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis separation and detection method was developed for the quantification of deoxyschizandrin and gamma-schizandrin in Schisandra chinensis Baill. and its medicinal preparations for the first time. After optimization of separation conditions, a buffer of 140 mmol/L sodium cholate in methanol was selected for separating the two analytes, but baseline separation of SA and SB in real samples was not obtained. Therefore second-order derivative electropherograms were applied for resolving overlapping peaks. Regression equations revealed good linear relationships (correlation coefficients 0.9975--0.9988) between peak heights in second-order derivative electropherograms and concentrations of the two analytes. The relative standard deviations (RSD) of the migration times and the peak height of the two constituents were in the ranges 0.62--0.79% and 0.25--2.17% (intra-day) and 1.43--2.06 and 4.08--5.72% (inter-day), respectively. The recoveries of the two constituents ranged from 93.2 to 103.0%. The results indicated that baseline separation of the analytes was sometimes hard to obtain in real samples and second-order derivative electropherograms were applicable for the resolution and analysis of overlapping peaks.     

Simultaneous determination of tanshinone IIA and its three hydroxylated metabolites by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid and sensitive method based on liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) for the simultaneous determination of tanshinone IIA and its three hydroxylated metabolites, tanshinone IIB, hydroxytanshinone IIA and przewaquinone A, in a rat liver microsome was developed and fully validated. A single step of liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate was utilized in this method. Chromatographic separation of the sample matrix from the analytes and the internal standard diazepam was performed using a Shim-pack VP-ODS analytical column. Detection was performed on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization source and operated in selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The method was linear in the concentration range of 1-500 ng/mL for all analytes. The intra- and inter-day precisions (RSD %) were within 15% and deviations of the assay accuracies were within 15.0% for all analytes. The analytes proved to be stable during sample storage, preparation and analyses. This validated method was successfully applied to the enzyme kinetic study of tanshinone IIA in liver microsome. The elimination of tanshinone IIA and formation of tanshinone IIB and hydroxytanshinone IIA in the liver microsome all exhibited a sigmoidal kinetics profile. The formation of przewaquinone A shows a typical hyperbolic profile. In addition, this method has now been applied in the analysis of other bio-samples including plasma, urine, bile and feces.     

Simultaneous determination of tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone in rat plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry: application to a pharmacokinetic study of a standardized fraction of Salvia miltiorrhiza, PF2401-SF

A rapid, sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous determination of tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone, the active components of Salvia miltiorrhiza in rat plasma, was developed. After liquid-liquid extraction with tariquidar as an internal standard, tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone were eluted from an Atlantis dC18 column within 5 min with a mixture of methanol and ammonium formate (10 mm, pH 6.5; 85:15, v/v). The analytes were detected by an electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry in the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The standard curves were linear (r=0.999) over the concentration range of 0.25-80 ng/mL for tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone in rat plasma. The coefficients of variation and the relative errors of tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone for intra- and inter-assay at four quality control (QC) concentrations were 1.1-5.1% and -4.0-6.0%, respectively. The lower limit of quantification for tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone was 0.25 ng/mL from 100 microL of plasma. This method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone after oral administration of PF2401-SF, the standardized fraction of Salvia miltiorrhiza enriched with tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone to male Sprague-Dawley rats.     

Quantitative chiral analysis in capillary electrophoresis from unresolved peaks using derivative electropherograms,experimental design,and artificial neural networks

Quantitative capillary electrophoretic analysis of chiral compounds might be difficult or even impossible when baseline separation is not reached. In this work, the use of n-th derivative of the electropherogram was studied and examined on model and experimental data. The electropherograms should be first smoothed using Savitzky-Golay method and the quantitative analysis is then possible using either a graphical method or multivariate calibration applying a combination of experimental design (ED) and artificial neural networks (ANNs). The best results were obtained for the first derivative, higher derivatives are not suitable because of noise accumulation. The method was applied to real experimental data to quantify chiral amino acids from unresolved peaks, but it is applicable for quantitative analysis of any other chiral analytes from poorly resolved peaks. Precision of analysis from partially resolved peaks reached was about +/- 3.2% relative standard deviation.     

Determination of Cryptotanshinone,Tanshinone I,and Tanshinone IIA in Salvia Miltiorrhiza by Micro HPLC with Amperometric Detection

A highly sensitive and simple method for determining cryptotanshinone (Cry), tanshinone I (Tan I), and tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) in Salvia miltiorrhiza was developed using micro HPLC with electrochemical detection (µHPLC-ED). The tanshinones were extracted using an ultrasonic method, with methanol as the extractant. The separation was carried out on a C18 (150 mm × 1.0 mm i.d., 3 µm particle size) analytical column. The mobile phase was acetonitrile-water-formic acid mixture (52:48:0.6, v/v/v) solution. The flow rate and the temperature of the column were set at 30 µL/min and 35°C. The applied potential was set at ?0.4 V vs. Ag/AgCl. The peak heights for Cry, Tan I, and Tan IIA were found to be linearly related to the amounts injected, ranging from 0.145 µmol/L to 3.88 µmol/L, 0.226 µmol/L to 3.01 µmol/L, and 0.149 µmol/L to 3.98 µmol/L, respectively. The RSD values of intra-day precision and repeatability were not more than 3.0%, and the recovery of three analytes were ranged from 96.7% to 97.5%. The results of the method validation indicated that this method had good precision and accuracy. As such, the method was applied to analyze crude materials and decoction pieces of Salvia miltiorrhiza.     

System peaks in capillary zone electrophoresis of anions with negative voltage polarity and counter-electroosmotic flow

The system peaks that often appear on electropherograms in anion separation by CE with indirect spectrophotometric detection, negative voltage polarity and cathodic EOF are studied. The system peaks are shown to correspond to the zones with the changed concentration of the BGE constituents; they appear while the zone of each analyte anion passes through the outlet end of the capillary and are transported to the detector by EOF. An equation is suggested for predicting migration times of the system peaks with an error of 1%. The ratios of the system peak area to the analyte peak area are found to amount to 20%. It is shown that it is possible to avoid overlapping of the system peaks and analyte peaks by controlling the EOF velocity owing to hydrodynamic pressure. Using the mathematical simulation of CE shows that the system peaks and baseline shift can result from changing the transference numbers of the BGE ions and analyte ions at the capillary edge. The cases when the system peak may be incorrectly identified as the peak of analyte ion are considered. In order to avoid such errors, some practical recommendations are given.     

Spline wavelet in the resolution of overlapping voltammetric peaks

Spline wavelet transform is used to resolve overlapping voltammetric peaks. A suitable resolving factor is chosen to multiply the filters of spline wavelet and make it a peak resoluter. Simulated overlapping voltammetric peaks are processed by the peak resoluter and satisfactory results are obtained. Base-line separation can be achieved, the relative errors of peak position are less than 3.0%, and the relative errors of peak area are less than 5.0%. The effect of different resolving factors and spline wavelet basis are discussed. To test the procedure, two systems, cadmium (Ⅱ)-indium (Ⅲ) and lead (Ⅱ)-thallium (Ⅰ), are used.     

Rapid and simple determination of adenine and guanine in DNA extract by micellar electrokinetic chromatography with indirect laser-induced fluorescence detection

This paper describes a micellar electrokinetic chromatography with indirect laser-induced fluorescence detection method for the simultaneous determination of adenine and guanine in DNA extracts from fungus, maize and soybean. The baseline separation was achieved within 2.5min with running buffer (pH 9.3) composed of 10mM borate, 20mM SDS, 3.0x10(-7)M fluorescein sodium as background reagent, applied voltage of 27.5kV, cartridge temperature of 25.0 degrees C. Good linearity relationships (correlation coefficients>0.9917) between the second-order derivative peak heights (RFU) and concentrations of the analytes (mgml(-1)) were obtained. The detection limits in second-order derivative electrophoregrams were 1.16x10(-3)mgml(-1) for adenine and 0.29x10(-3)mgml(-1) for guanine, respectively. The RSD data of intra-day for migration times and second-order derivative peak heights were less than 0.59 and 4.09%, respectively. This developed method was applied to the analysis of the two purines in DNA extracts with recoveries in the range of 85.3-110.2%. In this work, although the detection sensitivity was lower than that of direct LIF, yet the method has the advantages of rapidness and simplicity. And it would also extend the application range of LIF detector.     

Simultaneous Determination of Four Phenolic Compounds and Tanshinone IIA in Guanxintong Tablets by LC Using Combined Electrochemical Detection and DAD

A rapid, sensitive and accurate method for the simultaneous separation and determination of four phenolic compounds, including protocatechuic acid, protocatechuic aldehyde, caffeic acid and ferulic acid, and tanshinone IIA in Guanxintong tablets by high performance liquid chromatography using combined electrochemical detection with diode array detection (HPLC-ECD-DAD) has been established. The detection and quantification limits of four phenolic compounds with ECD were 7–28 fold greater than those obtained with DAD. High sensitivity was achieved using DAD for the detection of tanshinone IIA, which is an electrochemically inactive compound. All calibration curves showed good linearity (r ≥ 0.9996) within the test ranges. The recoveries ranged from 96.5% to 101.7%. Combining ECD with DAD can not only exert their respective advantages, but also widen its applications to detect various analytes in low level directly. This approach can be used to control the quality of Guanxintong tablets.     

Computer-aided target optimization for traditional Chinese medicine by ultra-performance liquid chromatography

A new strategy of target optimization was developed for resolving the separation problems of complex samples. Computer-aided target optimization for separation of complex samples by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) was studied. Taking traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) (Rhizoma Coptidis) as an example, separation conditions of target compounds - overlapping peaks and all components - were optimized based on moved overlapping separation ranging map (OSRM) and artificially intervention. After calculating retention parameters and peak shape parameters of the target peaks, the optimization was operated in an emulational picture through the computer without further experiments. The emulational chromatogram was proved to be authentic by the estimated values, which were almost identical to experimental results. The method was very helpful for obtaining the satisfied separation conditions of target compounds rapidly and efficiently.     

Study of tanshinone IIA tissue distribution in rat by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method

A liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method was developed and validated for determining tanshinone IIA in rat tissues. After a single step liquid-liquid extraction with diethyl ether, tanshinone IIA and loratadine (internal standard) was subjected to LC/MS/MS analysis using positive electro-spray ionization under selected reaction monitoring mode. Chromatographic separation of tanshinone IIA and loratadine was achieved on a Hypersil BDS C(18) column (i.d. 2.1 x 50 mm, 5 microm) with a mobile phase consisting of methanol-1% formic acid (90:10, v/v) at a flow rate of 300 microL/min. The intra-day and inter-day precision of the method were less than 10.2 and 12.4%, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day accuracies ranged from 99.7 to 109.7%. The lowest limit of quantification for tanshinone IIA was 1 ng/mL. The method was applied to a tanshinone IIA tissue distribution study after an oral dose of 60 mg/kg to rats. Tanshinone IIA tissue concentrations decreased in the order of stomach > small intestine > lung > liver > fat > muscle > kidneys > spleen > heart > plasma > brain > testes. Tanshinone IIA still could be detected in most of the tissues at 20 h post-dosing. These results indicate that the LC/MS/MS method was rapid and sensitive to quantify tanshinone IIA in different rat tissues.     

Preparative isolation and purification of six diterpenoids from the Chinese medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza by high-speed counter-current chromatography

A high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) method was developed for the preparative separation and purification of six diterpenoids. dihydrotanshinone I, cryptotanshinone, methylenetanshiquinone, tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and danshenxinkun B from the Chinese medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. The crude diterpenoids were obtained by extraction with ethanol-n-hexane (1:1, v/v) from S. miltiorrhiza Bunge. Preparative HSCCC with the two-phase solvent systems A composed of n-hexane-ethanol-water (10:5.5:4.5, v/v) and B composed of n-hexane-ethanol-water (10:7:3, v/v) was successfully performed in a stepwise elution yielding six relatively pure diterpenoids from 300 mg of the crude extract in a single run. The purities of dihydrotanshinone I, cryptotanshinone, methylenetanshiquinone, tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and danshenxinkun B were 88.1, 98.8, 97.6, 93.5, 96.8 and 94.3%, respectively.     

System peaks and optimization of anion separation in capillary electrophoresis with non-reversed electroosmotic flow

We studied system peaks present in the electropherograms obtained in the separation of anions by capillary electrophoresis with indirect spectrophotometric detection and cathode electroosmotic flow (EOF) with a chromate background electrolyte. The system peaks correspond to the zones with changed concentration of the background electrolyte; they formed when the zones of each analyte passed through the outlet of the capillary and then moved towards the EOF detector. It has been revealed that the height and area of the system peaks linearly depends on the concentration of the corresponding anion and the areas of the system peaks can achieve 10% of the anion peak area. An algorithm has been proposed for the determination of the optimal conditions for anion separation using hydrodynamic pressure for the regulation of the EOF flow rate. This algorithm prevents the overlapping of the anion and system peaks.     

Method development for the determination of coumarin compounds by capillary electrophoresis with indirect laser-induced fluorescence detection

A capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with indirect laser-induced fluorescence detection (ILIFD) method is described for the simultaneous determination of esculin, esculetin, isofraxidin, genistein, naringin and sophoricoside. The baseline separation was achieved within 5 min with running buffer (pH 9.4) composed of 5mM borate, 20% methanol (v/v) as organic modifier, 10(-7)M fluorescein sodium as background fluorophore and 20 kV of applied voltage at 30 degrees C of cartridge temperature. Good linearity relationships (correlation coefficients >0.9900) between the second-order derivative peak-heights (RFU) and concentrations of the analytes (mol L(-1)) were obtained. The detection limits for all analytes in second-order derivative electrophoregrams were in the range of 3.8-15 microM. The RSD data of intra-day for migration times and second-order derivative peak-height were less than 0.95 and 5.02%, respectively. This developed method was applied to the analysis of the courmin compounds in herb plants with recoveries in the range of 94.7-102.1%. In this work, although the detection sensitivity was lower than that of direct LIF, yet the method would extend the application range of LIF detection.     

Quantification from highly drifted and overlapped chromatographic peaks using second-order calibration methods

For determining low levels of pesticides and phenolic compounds in river and wastewater samples by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), solid phase extraction (SPE) is commonly used before the chromatographic separation. This preconcentration step is not necessarily selective for the analytes of interest and it may retain other compounds of similar characteristics as well. In this case, we present, humic and fulvic acids caused a large baseline drift and overlapped the analytes to be quantified. The inaccurate determinations of the area of the peaks of these analytes made it difficult to quantify them with univariate calibration. Here we compare three second-order calibration algorithms (generalized rank annihilation method (GRAM), parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) and multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS)) which efficiently solve this problem. These methods use second-order data, i.e., a matrix of responses for each peak, which is easily obtained with a high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). With these methods, the area does not need to be directly measured and predictions are more accurate. They also save time and resources because they can quantify analytes even if the peaks are not resolved. GRAM and PARAFAC require trilinear data. Biased and imprecise concentrations (relative standard deviation, %R.S.D. = 34) were obtained without correcting the time-shift. Hence, a time-shift correction algorithm to align the peaks was needed to obtain accurate predictions. MCR-ALS was the most robust to the time-shift. All three algorithms provided similar mean predictions, which were comparable to those obtained when sulfite was added to the samples. However, the predictions for the different replicates were more similar for the second-order algorithms (%R.S.D. = 3) than the ones obtained by univariate calibration after the sulfite addition (%R.S.D. = 13).     

Determination of Three Tanshinones from Radix Salvia Miltiorrhiza by Molecularly Imprinted Solid-phase Extraction

A selective molecularly imprinted solid‐phase extraction procedure was developed for the selective separation of tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, and cryptotanshinone from Radix Salvia Miltiorrhiza samples. Tanshinone IIA imprinted polymers (MIP) synthesized in ethanol‐dodecanol system show high affinity to tanshinone IIA and its structure analogs in aqueous environment and the affinity can be controlled by adjusting the intensity of the eluents. By using 60% water‐40% methanol (volume ratio) and 99.5% methanol‐0.5% trifluoroacetic acid (volume ratio) as washing and eluting solvents, most interferences originating from the salvia matrix were eliminated. The extracts were sufficiently clean enough to be directly injected into HPLC for further chromatographic analysis. Good linearity was obtained from 0.4 to 500.0 mg·L^?1 (r²=0.999) with the relative standard deviations less than 4.2%. The mean recoveries of tanshinone IIA in Radix Salvia Miltiorrhiza were more than 85.6% at three different concentrations and the limits of detection were 0.06–0.09 mg·L^?1. This method is a viable alternative tool to the existing HPLC methods for analyzing the content of the three tanshinones in Radix Salvia Miltiorrhiza samples.     

Analysis of protoberberine alkaloids in several herbal drugs and related medicinal preparations by non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis

A simple, rapid, reproducible, and universal non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis method has been developed for the separation and determination of three major active protoberberine alkaloids including berberine, palmatine, and jatrorrhizine within 7 min. The effects of the concentrations of acetic acid and electrolyte, the ratio of organic solvent, and the applied voltage on the separation were investigated. The optimum running buffer was composed of 50 mM ammonium acetate, 0.5% (v/v) acetic acid, and 10% (v/v) acetonitrile in methanol. The applied voltage was 18 kV. The analytes were detected by UV at 214 nm. The linearities between peak areas and the concentrations of the analytes were also investigated, and they exhibit excellent linear behavior over the concentration ranges (correlation coefficients: 0.9975-0.9986). The method was successfully applied to determine the three alkaloids in several families of herbal drugs (Rhizoma Coptidis, Cortex Berberidis, Cortex Phellodendri, Herba Chelidonii, Caulis Mahoniae) and their relevant medicinal preparations for the first time, and the recoveries of the three constituents ranged between 95.6-103.2% for berberine, 97.5-103.3% for palmatine, and 96.1 -103.6% for jatrorrhizine.     

Profiling the metabolic difference of seven tanshinones using high-performance liquid chromatography/multi-stage mass spectrometry with data-dependent acquisition

Tanshinones are a class of bioactive constituents in the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza named Dan-Shen in Chinese, which possess diverse pharmacological activities. In this study, we employed a sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography/multi-stage mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS(n)) method with data-dependent acquisition and a dynamic exclusion program for the identification of phase I metabolites of seven tanshinones in rat bile after intravenous administration. These seven tanshinones are tanshinone IIA, sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate (abbreviated as STS, a water-soluble derivate of tanshinone IIA), cryptotanshinone, 15,16-dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIB, przewaquinone A and tanshinone I. Altogether 33 metabolites underwent monohydroxylation, dihydroxylation, dehydrogenation, D-ring hydrolysis or oxidation reactions in the C-4 or C-15 side chain which were characterized by analyzing the LC/MS(n) data. Different metabolic reactions for tanshinones were dependent on the degree of saturation and the substituent group in the skeleton. Dehydrogenation was the major metabolic modification for cryptotanshinone with saturated A and D rings. 15,16-Dihydrotanshinone I containing a saturated D ring was mainly metabolized through D-ring hydrolysis. For tanshinone IIA, possessing a saturated A ring, hydroxylation was the major metabolic pathway. When there was hydroxyl group substitution in the C-17 or C-18 position, such as przewaquinone A and tanshinone IIB, or sulfonic group substitution in the C-16 position, such as STS, higher metabolic stability than that of tanshinone IIA was shown and only trace metabolites were generated. Oxidation in the C-4 or C-15 side chain was a characteristic reaction for tanshinone IIA and hydroxylated tanshinone IIA. For tanshinone I, bearing unsaturated A and D rings simultaneously, no metabolites were detected.     

基于分形理论分辨重叠峰的新算法

将分形理论用于仪器分析信号的解析,提出一种面向分析谱图中重叠信号处理的分形分辨算法.通过对信号进行分形分析,采用分形维数可有效地反映信号的特征,准确地得到谱峰个数和位置的信息,避免人为判断的误差,实现重叠复合信号的分辨.实验表明,这种新的重叠谱峰分辨法能用于光谱、电化学、色谱等仪器分析数据的处理     

Simultaneous Determination of Seven Lipophilic and Hydrophilic Components in Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge by LC-MS/MS Method and Its Application to a Transport Study in a Blood-Brain-Barrier Cell Model

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (SM) has been extensively used in Alzheimer’s disease treatment, the permeability through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) determining its efficacy. However, the transport mechanism of SM components across the BBB remains to be clarified. A simple, precise, and sensitive method using LC-MS/MS was developed for simultaneous quantification of tanshinone I (TS I), dihydrotanshinone I (DTS I), tanshinone IIA (TS IIA), cryptotanshinone (CTS), protocatechuic aldehyde (PAL), protocatechuic acid (PCTA), and caffeic acid (CFA) in transport samples. The analytes were separated on a C18 column by gradient elution. Multiple reaction monitoring mode via electrospray ionization source was used to quantify the analytes in positive mode for TS I, DTS I, TS IIA, CTS, and negative mode for PAL, PCTA, and CFA. The linearity ranges were 0.1–8 ng/mL for TS I and DTS I, 0.2–8 ng/mL for TS IIA, 1–80 ng/mL for CTS, 20–800 ng/mL for PAL and CFA, and 10–4000 ng/mL for PCTA. The developed method was accurate and precise for the compounds. The relative matrix effect was less than 15%, and the analytes were stable for analysis. The established method was successfully applied for transport experiments on a BBB cell model to evaluate the apparent permeability of the seven components.