Abstract
Artemisia capillaries Thunb, Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, and Rheum officinale Baill have been combined to treat jaundice for thousands of years. Studies have revealed that these herbs induce anti-hepatic fibrosis and anti-hepatic apoptosis and alleviate hepatic oxidative stress. This study aims to determine the quality and quantity of an herbal formulation (Chinese name: Yin-Chen-Hao-Tang) using physical and chemical examinations. Physical examination of Yin-Chen-Hao-Tang in pharmaceutical herbal products, raw fiber powders, and decoction preparations was performed using Congo red and iodine-potassium staining. A sensitive and validated method employing ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was developed to simultaneously quantify the bioactive compounds scoparone, geniposide, and rhein in the Yin-Chen-Hao-Tang formulation in different preparations. Physical examination indicated that cellulose fibers with irregular round shapes were present in the pharmaceutical herbal products. The developed UHPLC-MS/MS method showed good linearity and was well validated. The quantification results revealed that the decoction preparations had the highest amounts of geniposide and rhein. Scoparone appeared in pharmaceutical herbal products from two manufacturers. This experiment provides a qualitative and quantitative method using physical and chemical examinations to test different preparations of herbal products. The results provide a reference for clinical herbal product preparations and further pharmacokinetic research.
Highlights
The use of detection techniques for herbal medicines or phytomedicines has been increasingly studied in recent years
Studies have shown that versatile high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with mass spectrometry can be used to analyze complex natural products and metabolites
The optimizing step revealed large peaks at [M + H] for scoparone and carbamazepine (IS) at m/z 207.0 of bioactive compounds within the herbal formulation began with parent compound optimization
Summary
The use of detection techniques for herbal medicines or phytomedicines has been increasingly studied in recent years. To investigate the candidate compounds and the efficacy, safety, and quality of medicinal plants that contain hundreds of chemical constituents, separation and detection methods that enable rapid analysis of inherently complex herbs have been developed. Liquid chromatography, coupled with mass spectrometry, is the most prevalent because it can collect data instantly from each chromatographic peak, even at low sample concentrations and with relatively short analysis times. Studies have shown that versatile high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with mass spectrometry can be used to analyze complex natural products and metabolites. HPLC in combination with two or more MS experiments (tandem mass spectrometry, MS/MS) provides higher resolution to achieve better quantitative analysis and has become a routine analytical technique for the quantitative identification of herbal medicines
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