Protein Molecular Markers for Herbal Natures of Six Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs

Abstract

Abstract This article presents a new method of using molecular markers to study the material base of the herbal nature of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) herbs. The feasibility of using the all-electric ion chromatography to select the appropriate protein molecular markers for studying the herbal nature of TCM herbs is also discussed. In the study, the chromatographic peaks of the total water-soluble proteins of a TCM herb in a specific pH value condition were selected using anion-exchange chromatography in combination with cation exchange chromatography. This method is known as the all-electric ion chromatography. The common chromatographic peaks of TCM herbs with same herbal nature were sorted out by parallel comparison of different all-electric ion chromatograms. The all-electric ion chromatograms could be used to mark the herbal nature of TCM herbs. SDS-PAGE was performed on the common chromatographic peak fractions. The common electrophoresis bands of TCM herbs with same herbal nature were selected as the molecular markers for the corresponding herbal nature. Test results showed that near the fraction number of 30 in anion-ion exchange chromatography, there were several common chromatographic peaks for three tested TCM herbs with hot nature: Rhizoma zingiberis, Cortex cinnamomi, and Rhizoma curculignis. These three TCM have three common protein electrophoresis bands at the molecular weight of 51 kU on 12% SDS-PAGE gel. As for three TCM herbs with cold nature: Rhizoma coptidis, Rhizoma anemarrhenae, and Flos lonicerea japonicae, the common chromatographic peaks were found near the fraction number of 35 in anion-ion exchange chromatography. These cold nature TCM herbs have two common electrophoresis bands at the molecular weight of near 31 kU on 12% SDS-PAGE gel. Common chromatographic peaks of TCM herbs studied in this research showed three repeats in all-electric ion chromatograms. These common chromatographic peaks could be used to mark the corresponding herbal nature of TCM herbs. Common protein electrophoresis bands of the common chromatographic peak fractions were specific for three hot TCM herbs and three cold TCM herbs studied in this research. Hence, they can be used as the protein molecular markers for studying the herbal nature of all these six TCM herbs. All-electric ion chromatography is a new desirable method for screening molecular markers of the herbal nature of TCM herbs.