Abstract
Toad skin and toad venom, as two kinds of Chinese medicine, are prepared from Bufo bufo gargarizans Cantor and Bufo melanostictus Schneider. However, they display distinct properties in traditional application, and the hydrophilic ingredients are the possible distinguishing chemicals between them. In this work, 36 and 22 hydrophilic components were characterized from toad skin and venom, respectively, by UHPLC-HR-MS/MS, including amino acids, nucleosides, polypeptides, and indolealkylamines (IAAs). Among them, 15 compounds were unambiguously confirmed by comparison with standards. The CID-MS/MS fragmentation behaviors of seven indolealkylamine references were investigated to ascertain three types of structures. Subsequently, 11 high abundance contents of hydrophilic ingredients were determined from 11 batches of toad skin and 4 batches of toad venom by UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS. The quantitative results showed that the content of main IAAs in toad venom was much higher than in skin. In addition, the N-methyl serotonin (free IAA), bufothionine (combined IAA), and total IAAs sample were selected for anti-inflammatory evaluation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated zebrafish embryo models. The obvious anti-inflammatory activities of IAAs were observed, especially for the free IAAs. This study illustrated IAAs were the main distinct hydrophilic components that probably lead to the difference between toad skin and toad venom in traditional applications.
Highlights
Toad skin and toad venom are two kinds of Chinese medicine used widely in clinical and Chinese patent medicine
An effective and comprehensive strategy was developed for the comparative evaluation of hydrophilic ingredients in toad skin and venom, with a total of 38 components characterized
Quantitative results showed that the total content of main IAAs in toad venom was much higher than in toad skin
Summary
Toad skin and toad venom are two kinds of Chinese medicine used widely in clinical and Chinese patent medicine. Both of them are prepared from Bufo bufo gargarizans Cantor and Bufo melanostictus. Schneider [1,2,3]. Toad skin extractions termed as Huachansu has long been used for treating human cancers in combinational therapies [4,5], while toad venom is used for treating infection and inflammation as well as relieving pain and inducing resuscitation [6,7,8]. The reason behind this difference is far from being understood
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