Abstract
Wuzi-Yanzong-Wan (WZYZW), a classical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription containing Fructus Lych, Semen Cuscutae (fried), Fructus Rubi, Fructus Schisandrae chinensis (steamed) and Semen Plantaginis (fried with salt), is widely used to treat impotence, sterility, spermatorrhea, premature ejaculation, lumbago and post-micturation dribble. However, the chemical profile of WZYZW has not been established yet. In this work, a rapid and sensitive method for systematically screening and identifying the chemical constituents of WZYZW in both positive and negative ion modes using Ultra-Performance LC coupled with ESI-linear ion trap-Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS) has been developed. Based on the chromatographic and spectrometric data, and referring to the literature, we could tentatively identify 106 compounds, including organic acids, flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, alkaloids and terpenoids. Fourteen ingredients from Fructus Lych were identified, while 10 ingredients were from Semen Cuscutae (fried), 33 ingredients were from Fructus Rubi, 37 ingredients were from Fructus Schisandrae chinensis (steamed), and 20 ingredients were from Semen Plantaginis (fried with salt). The results may provide essential data for further quality control, pharmacological research and clinical evaluation of WZYZW. Furthermore, this study indicates the developed approach based on UPLC-ESI-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS is suitable for characterizing the chemical profiles of TCM prescriptions. This is the first report to provide a comprehensive analysis of the chemical constituents of WZYZW.
Highlights
Chinese herbal prescriptions, the basic form of clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for thousands of years, have been proven by clinical practice to play a positive role in human health
The basic form of clinical application of TCM for thousands of years, have been proven by clinical practice to play a positive role in human health
The multi-chemical constituents of Chinese herbal prescriptions are the key to achieving their prevention and treatment effects, so comprehensive analysis of their chemical constituents is the premise and foundation to promote development and innovation in TCM [1,2,3]
Summary
The basic form of clinical application of TCM for thousands of years, have been proven by clinical practice to play a positive role in human health. The chemical work on WZYZW has mainly focused on either qualitative or quantitative analyses of its major components using different techniques [7,8,9,10], such as HPLC, LC-MS, etc These methods have contributed to the study of WZYZW to some extent, but there has been no systematic characterization of the chemical constituents in this prescription, which could contribute to interpret the material basis for its therapeutic effects. LTQ-Orbitrap-MS as a high resolution mass spectrometry technique has proven to be an advanced, accurate and reliable tool for the comprehensive identification of compounds in complex systems such as TCMs [11,12,13,14,15] It has high sensitivity, resolution and mass accuracy, which provides multi-stage MS analysis (MSn) information, acquisition of precursor ion data of high-resolution, determination of accurate mass charge ratios, structural information of fragment ions from MSn, and gives the elementary composition of compounds and allows the structure confirmation of trace components in complicated samples [16]. This is the first time a comprehensive analysis of the multiple class compounds of WZYZW has been reported
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