Correlation between quality and geographical origins of Leonuri Herba revealed by the qualitative fingerprint profiling and quantitative determination of chemical components

Abstract

Background Leonuri Herba (Yimucao) is a very common Chinese herbs for treating menstrual and maternal diseases for thousands of years in China. However, the herb collected in different origins was easily found in the markets which induce the unstable quality for clinic use. In this study, a comprehensive strategy of using multiple chromatographic analysis and chemometric analysis was firstly investigated for chemical discrimination of Leonuri Herba from different geographical origins. Methods UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS was applied to identify the peaks of Leonuri Herba and chemical fingerprints were established in 30 batches from different geographical origins. Meanwhile, dissimilarities of chemical compositions among different origins were further investigated by principal component analysis and cluster analysis. And a quantitative UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS approach were established to investigate the potential marker for quality control of Leonuri Herba. Results A total of 49 chromatographic peaks of Leonuri Herba were identified by UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS. Leonuri Herba were classified into four categories, and eight major compounds detected could be used as chemical markers for discrimination. Also, the eight components, including leonurine, 4',5-dihydroxy-7-methoxyflavone, rutin, hyperoside, apigenin, quercetin, kaempferol and salicylic acid, were simultaneously quantified using the extracting ion mode of UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS. Conclusion The current strategy not only clearly expounded the correlation between quality and geographical origins of Leonuri Herba, but also provided a fast, accurate and comprehensive qualitative and quantitative method for assessing the quality of Leonuri Herba.

The mechanism of Leonuri Herba in improving polycystic ovary syndrome was analyzed based on network pharmacology and molecular docking

“…Leonuri Herba in this study is one of the traditional Chinese herbs, which has been widely used to treat gynecological and obstetric diseases for thousands of years. Its main ingredients are reported to include leonurine, 4′,5-dihydroxy-7-methoxyflavone, rutin, hyperoside, apigenin, quercetin, kaempferol and salicylic acid (25). So far, its main components have been found to have antioxidant stress, ROS reduction levels, anti-inflammatory, treatment of infertility or menstrual disorders, treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (9,26,27).…”

Integrating serum pharmacochemistry and network pharmacology to identify chemical markers for quality control of Apocyni Veneti Folium

“…Certain amounts of reference compounds 1, 3,5,6,7,8,10,12,16,17,18,20,21,23,24,25,27,28,29,35, and 37 were dissolved in methanol to obtain reference compound stock solutions (about 1.0 mg/ml) and stored at 4 C. Reference compound stock solutions were mixed and diluted with methanol to prepare the reference compound mixture working solution (about 1.0 μg/ml for each compound), and the solution was filtered by a 0.22-μm PTEE syringe filter before analysis.…”

“…Therefore, multi-component evaluation has become the mainstream strategy in overall quality control of HMs. [8][9][10] Over the past years, several techniques based on hyphenated chromatography and mass spectrometry have been applied to improve the holistic quality evaluation of AVF, such as ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with triple time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UFLC-Triple TOF-MS/MS) and ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (UFLC-QTRAP-MS/MS). 11,12 However, the high prices of instruments impede the popularization of these methods.…”

“…Hierarchical cluster analysis and heatmap analysis were conducted for quality consistency evaluation. The reference compounds quinic acid (1), epigallocatechin (3), neochlorogenic acid (5), gallocatechin (6), chlorogenic acid (7), cryptochlorogenic acid (8), caffeic acid (10), myricetin 3-O-galactoside (17), methyl chlorogenate (21), rutin (23), isoquercitrin (25), (Nantong, China). Their purity was higher than 98%, as determined by HPLC analysis.…”

“…Consequently, a single marker might not reflect the integrative effects of multiple components. Therefore, multi‐component evaluation has become the mainstream strategy in overall quality control of HMs 8–10 …”