Chemical Pattern Recognition for Quality Analysis of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos and Lonicerae Flos Based on Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Anti-SARS-CoV2 Main Protease Activity.

Lifei Gu,Lijun Wang,Jue Wang,Tiejie Wang,Xueqing Xie,Guo Yin,Bing Wang,Kaishun Bi,Yibao Jin

doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.810748

Abstract

Lonicerae japonicae flos (L. japonicae flos, Lonicera japonica Thunb.) is one of the most commonly prescribed botanical drugs in the treatment or prevention of corona virus disease 2019. However, L. japonicae flos is often confused or adulterated with Lonicerae flos (L. flos, Lonicera macrantha (D.Don) Spreng., Shanyinhua in Chinese). The anti-SARS-CoV2 activity and related differentiation method of L. japonicae flos and L. flos have not been documented. In this study, we established a chemical pattern recognition model for quality analysis of L. japonicae flos and L. flos based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) and anti-SARS-CoV2 activity. Firstly, chemical data of 59 batches of L. japonicae flos and L. flos were obtained by UHPLC, and partial least squares-discriminant analysis was applied to extract the components that lead to classification. Next, anti-SARS-CoV2 activity was measured and bioactive components were acquired by spectrum-effect relationship analysis. Finally, characteristic components were explored by overlapping feature extracted components and bioactive components. Accordingly, eleven characteristic components were successfully selected, identified, quantified and could be recommended as quality control marker. In addition, chemical pattern recognition model based on these eleven components was established to effectively discriminate L. japonicae flos and L. flos. In sum, the demonstrated strategy provided effective and highly feasible tool for quality assessment of natural products, and offer reference for the quality standard setting.

Highlights

The ongoing outbreak of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID19) infection has been a crisis of global health and economy (Hu et al, 2020; Rothan and Byrareddy, 2020; Wu et al, 2020)
Lonicerae japonicae flos (L. japonicae flos, Lonicera japonica Thunb.), a well-known heat-clearing and detoxifying botanical drug, is one of the most commonly prescribed botanical drugs in the treatment or prevention of COVID-19 according to an extensive analysis of the frequency of traditional Chinese medicine used in China (Luo et al, 2020)
When the mobile phase was added with formic acid, the shape and symmetry of chromatographic peaks were significantly improved

Summary

Introduction

The ongoing outbreak of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID19) infection has been a crisis of global health and economy (Hu et al, 2020; Rothan and Byrareddy, 2020; Wu et al, 2020). Since the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s treatment protocol using integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine played significant efficacies in alleviating symptoms and suppressing the rapid spread of COVID-19 in China (Ni et al, 2020). Lonicerae japonicae flos (L. japonicae flos, Lonicera japonica Thunb.), a well-known heat-clearing and detoxifying botanical drug, is one of the most commonly prescribed botanical drugs in the treatment or prevention of COVID-19 according to an extensive analysis of the frequency of traditional Chinese medicine used in China (Luo et al, 2020). Investigations have revealed that many Chinese medicinal prescriptions containing L. japonicae flos successfully relieved COVID-19 symptoms, improve the recovery of thoracic radiological abnormalities, and prevent fatal deterioration of the disease (Xiao et al, 2020; Hu et al, 2021; Huang et al, 2021)

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Discussion

Conclusion