Abstract
Schizonepetae Spica (SS) is commonly used for treating colds, fevers, bloody stool and metrorrhagia in China. To treat colds and fevers, traditional Chinese medicine doctors often use raw SS, while to treat bloody stool and metrorrhagia, they usually use Schizonepetae Spica Carbonisata (SSC; raw SS processed by stir-frying until carbonization). However, there have been limited investigations designed to uncover the mechanism of stir-fry processing. In the present study, a method combining gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for the comprehensive analysis of the chemical profiles of SS and SSC samples. Principal component analysis of the GC-MS data demonstrated that there were 16 significant differences in volatile compounds between the SS and SSC samples. The simultaneous quantification of six nonvolatile compounds was also established based on HPLC, and remarkable differences were found between the two products. These changes were probably responsible for the various pharmacological effects of SS and SSC as well as the observed hepatotoxicity. Finally, the mechanisms could be rationalized by deducing possible reactions involved in the transformation of these marker components. This work reports a new strategy to reveal the chemical transformation of SS during stir-fry processing.
Highlights
Chinese medicinal materials (CMMs) often have to be processed by using physical or chemical methods before prescription or clinical usage
The correlation coefficients from each chromatogram for 11 Schizonepetae Spica (SS) batches were found to be 0.969–0.997, which was in agreement with previous studies [25,26], while those from the 11 batches of Schizonepetae Spica Carbonisata (SSC) were 0.955–0.995 (Table 1)
These results demonstrated that the chromatographic fingerprints of SS and SSC were consistent to some extent despite their slightly different chemical compositions, which indicated that the developed processing method for investigating the specific variations between SS and SSC was satisfactory
Summary
Chinese medicinal materials (CMMs) often have to be processed by using physical or chemical methods before prescription or clinical usage. The aims of processing are to alter the clinical efficacy and/or reduce the toxicity of the CMMs [1]. (Chinese Pharmacopoeia, 2015 edition) [7]. It was first recorded in Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Shen Nong’s herbal classic), a book written 2000 years ago [8]. The herb is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescriptions to treat colds, fevers, bloody stool and metrorrhagia [9]. To treat colds and fevers, TCM practitioners often prescribe raw SS, while to treat bloody stool and metrorrhagia, they
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