Fermentation characteristics and the dynamic trend of chemical components during fermentation of Massa Medicata Fermentata

As a representative of traditionally fermented Chinese medicine, Massa Medicata Fermentata (MMF) shows the functions of invigorating the spleen and stomach and promoting digestion, which plays an important role in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The fermentation mechanism and the key factors that affect the quality of MMF have not been revealed yet, which has become an urgent issue that limits its clinical application. This article aims to systematically and comprehensively reveal the transformation of physical properties and the dynamic trend of chemical components including substrate components, volatile components, and lactic acid as anaerobic fermentation product during MMF fermentation. Along with obvious hyphae growth observed for MMF, the weight of MMF decreased, and the moisture and temperature increased. Through the quantified 14 components from substrate, ferulic acid increased from 45.53 ± 6.94 to 141.89 ± 78.40 μg/g, while glycosides and phenolic acids declined except caffeic acid. Also, within the 66 volatile components analyzed, alcohols and acids increased, while aldehydes and ketones decreased. Lactic acid was not detected in the fermentation substrate, but an apparent increase in lactic acid content was observed along with the increased fermentation days, resulting in 2.54 ± 0.15 mg/g on day 8. Based on the tested components, the fermentation process of MMF was discriminated into three distinct stages by principal component analysis, and an optimal fermentation time of four days was proposed. The results of this study will be of great significance to clarify the characteristics of fermentation and conduce to improving quality standards of MMF.     

Screening of bioactive compounds in Rhizoma Polygoni Cuspidati with hepatocyte membranes by HPLC and LC–MS

A new method employing HPLC, LC–MS, and hepatocyte membranes for the screening of bioactive compounds in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) has been proposed. We hypothesized that exposure of the TCM extracts to hepatocyte membranes should decrease the concentration of membrane‐permeable compounds in the solution. Using this approach, the permeability of the compounds in Rhizoma Polygoni Cuspidati was investigated. By comparing chromatograms of samples prepared both before and after interaction with hepatocyte membranes, seven permeable compounds of Rhizoma Polygoni Cuspidati were identified. Additionally, it was found that piceid, resveratrol, emodin‐8‐β‐d‐glucoside, physcion‐8‐β‐d‐glucoside, aloe‐emodin, emodin, and physcion combined specifically with hepatocyte membranes, which might indicate a useful approach for revealing the antiatherosclerotic effects of Rhizoma Polygoni Cuspidati. Therefore, the proposed method could be a good approach to predict the potential bioactivities of multiple compounds in TCMs simultaneously. Based on the significance of these results, this method could be a novel approach for identifying potentially bioactive components in other TCMs.     

微波辅助提取石蒜和虎杖中有效成分的热力学机理研究

采用微波辅助提取(MAE)技术研究了石蒜和虎杖两种不同植物中石蒜碱、力可拉敏和加兰他敏以及白藜芦醇和大黄素提取过程的热力学机理. 以溶剂回流提取方法(SRE)作为对比, 采用一种简单的测定提取分配系数的方法, 计算了这些组分在两种提取过程中的热力学函数ΔH0, ΔS0和ΔG0, 对其化学结构与极性以及在MAE过程中的热力学行为进行了讨论, 并用扫描电镜法观察了MAE和SRE提取后样品的细胞结构. 结果表明, 石蒜和虎杖的提取是一个吸热熵增的过程, 微波的作用导致石蒜和虎杖细胞结构发生显著变化, 使MAE热力学函数变化较大, 其提取过程的热力学行为特征与SRE明显不同, 但提取效率提高.     

Chinese hamster ovary‐sphingomyelin synthase2 biospecific extraction and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry analysis for the prediction of bioactive components of Rhizoma Polygoni Cuspidati

A novel strategy for predicting bioactive components in traditional Chinese medicines using Chinese hamster ovary‐sphingomyelin synthase2 (CHO‐SMS₂) cell biospecific extraction and high‐performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection and tandem mass spectrometry analysis was proposed. The hypothesis is that when cells are incubated with the extract of traditional Chinese medicines, the potential bioactive components in the traditional Chinese medicines should selectively combine with the cells, while the cell‐combining components would be detectable in the extract of denatured cells. The identities of the cell‐combining components could be determined by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Using the proposed approach, the potential bioactive components of Rhizoma Polygoni Cuspidati, a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine for atherosclerosis, were detected and identified. Eight compounds in the extract of Rhizoma Polygoni Cuspidati were detected as the components selectively combined with CHO‐SMS₂ cells, which is a stable cell line that highly expresses sphingomyelin synthases, it was found that piceid, resveratrol, emodin‐8‐β‐d‐ glucoside, physcion‐8‐β‐d‐ glucoside, emodin, physcion, 3,5,4‘‐trihydroxystilbene‐3‐O‐(6“‐galloyl)‐glucoside, and emodin‐1‐O‐glucoside combined specifically with CHO‐SMS₂ cells. The results indicate that the proposed approach may be applied to predict the bioactive candidates in traditional Chinese medicines.     

ICP-AES测定夜交藤中金属元素的含量

以干热法处理夜交藤样品,用电感耦合等离子体-原子发射光谱仪检测夜交藤中Cu、Zn、Fe、Mn、Pb、Cd、Al、V、Ti的含量。结果表明,Fe和Al含量较高,其他含量较低,含量测定相对标准偏差在0.53%—3.3%之间,加标回收率在85.1%—105.0%之间,干热法处理样品和ICP-AES相结合的方法能够较好地分析夜交藤中的金属离子含量。     

Rapid Characterization of the major chemical constituents from Polygoni Multiflori Caulis by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and comparative analysis with Polygoni Multiflori Radix

Polygoni Multiflori Caulis is a traditional Chinese medicine that has been used for a long time to treat sleep disorders. However, the multiple chemical composition analysis has not been reported. In this study, a simple, rapid and effective ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry method was established to characterize the components of Polygoni Multiflori Caulis. In addition, a chemical comparative analysis was performed with Polygoni Multiflori Radix, another traditional Chinese medicine from the same plant, through multivariate statistical analysis and semi‐quantitative analysis to screen the difference in chemical ingredients between these two herbal medicines from same medicinal plant. A total of 33 peaks were detected within 25 min, and 28 of them were identified or tentatively characterized by comparing the retention time and mass spectrometry data. Based on the results, 12 characteristic components were screened out by multivariate statistical analysis, and their content change trends were compared by semi‐quantitative analysis.     

非水介质毛细管电泳电导检测虎杖中的白藜芦醇

分离检测;非水介质毛细管电泳电导检测虎杖中的白藜芦醇     

Discrimination of Polygoni Multiflori radix and Cynanchi Auriculati radix using ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography fingerprints and chemical pattern recognition

In this work, a strategy was proposed to discriminate Polygoni Multiflori Radix (PMR) and its adulterant (Cynanchi Auriculati Radix, CAR). Ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) fingerprints were established to analyze samples containing PMR, CAR and mixtures simultaneously. Multivariate classification methods were applied to analyze the obtained UHPLC fingerprints, including principal component analysis (PCA), partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA), soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA), support vector machine discriminant analysis (SVMDA) and counter‐propagation artificial neural network (CP‐ANN). A plot of PCA score showed that PMR and CAR samples belonged to separate clusters (PMR class and CAR class), and samples of mixtures were located near PMR or CAR classes. Analysis by PLS‐DA, SVMDA and CP‐ANN performed well for recognition and prediction in terms of PMR and CAR samples. Moreover, the PLS‐DA method performed best in the detection of adulterated samples, even if the adulterant was about 25%.     

Intestinal metabolism of Polygonum cuspidatum in vitro and in vivo

Rhizoma et Radix Polygoni Cuspidati (RRPC) is commonly prescribed for the treatment of amenorrhea, arthralgia, jaundice and abscess in traditional Chinese medicine. Previous pharmacological studies have indicated that polyphenols are the main pharmacological active ingredients in RRPC. Meanwhile, the poor bioavailability of polyphenols in RRPC implies that those components are probably metabolized by intestinal bacteria before absorption. However, there is rather limited information about RRPC''s metabolites produced by intestinal bacteria and the intestinal absorbed constituents. In the present study, the metabolites were characterized after the aqueous extract of RRPC was incubated with the crude enzyme of human intestinal bacteria in vitro. The metabolic characteristics of glycosides in RRPC were figured out by comparing the metabolic profiles of emodin‐8‐O‐β‐d ‐glucopyranoside and polydatin between aqueous extract of RRPC and equivalent amounts of these two glycosides. The transitional constituents absorbed into blood were investigated in rats via intraduodental administration and portal vein intubation. A total of 38 prototype components and 43 metabolites were detected and characterized in vivo. The overall results demonstrated that the intestinal bacteria played an important role in the metabolism of RRPC, and the main metabolic pathways were hydrolysis in vitro, glucuronidation and sulfation in vivo.     

Two New Glucosides from Radix Polygoni multiflori Preparata

The root tuber of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. ( Polygonaceae ) (PM ) is a famous Chinese traditional medicine, which has been used to remedy for treatment many diseases such as cardiovascular and aging diseases for long times. When it is used as a tonic drug, PM must be prepared in order to eliminate its side effects, and the preparation is known as Radix Polygoni multiflori Preparata ( PMP )1. Here we report the isolation of 2,3,5,4'-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-(2'-O-feruloyl)-(-D-gluco …