Chapter 20 - UPLC-MS Determining the Active Ingredients of Herbal Fructus Corni In Vivo

Abstract

Fructus Corni (FC), a famous traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is derived from the dry ripe sarcocarp of Cornus officinalis Sieb. et Zucc. It was used for nourishing liver and kidneys, and possesses a variety of pharmacological activities, including immune regulation, antioxidation, antitumor, and antiaging effects. Although pharmacological activities of FC have been extensively studied, very little is known about its systematic chemical constituents or characteristics in vivo. According to the theory of serum pharmacochemistry of TCM, only compounds absorbed into the blood have the possibility of showing pharmacological bioactivities. Therefore simultaneous identification of potential active components of FC in blood is indispensable. Despite the advancement of various analytical tools, the identification of bioactive components from TCM remains a great challenge. Ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass chromatography has been proven to be an efficient tool for the rapid analysis of the known compounds and elucidation of unknown compounds in complex TCM research. It is of significance to systematically analyze the chemical constituents of FC to interpret its material basis for pharmacological effects. In this work, ultraperformance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass chromatography was applied for the identification of phytochemical constituents of FC and multiple absorbed components in rat plasma. The developed method could be adopted to rapidly screen and identify potentially bioactive components contributing to pharmacological effects of TCM.