Discovery of chemical markers for improving the quality and safety control of Sinomenium acutum stem by the simultaneous determination of multiple alkaloids using UHPLC-QQQ-MS/MS

Abstract

Sinomenium acutum stem is a popular traditional Chinese medicine used to treat bone and joint diseases. Sinomenine is considered the only chemical marker for the quality control of S. acutum stem in mainstream pharmacopeias. However, higenamine in S. acutum stem is a novel stimulant that was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2017. Therefore, enhancing the quality and safety control of S. acutum stem to avoid potential safety risks is of utmost importance. In this study, a fast, sensitive, precise, and accurate method for the simultaneous determination of 11 alkaloids in S. acutum stem by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QQQ-MS/MS) was established. This method successfully analyzed thirty-five batches of S. acutum stem samples. The average contents of sinomenine, magnoflorine, coclaurine, acutumine, higenamine, sinoacutine, palmatine, magnocurarine, columbamine, 8-oxypalmatine, and jatrorrhizine were 24.9 mg/g, 6.35 mg/g, 435 μg/g, 435 μg/g, 288 μg/g, 44.4 μg/g, 22.5 μg/g, 21.1 μg/g, 15.8 μg/g, 9.30 μg/g, and 8.75 μg/g, respectively. Multivariate analysis, including principal component analysis (PCA), orthogonal partial least square method-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), were performed to characterize the importance and differences among these alkaloids in S. acutum stem samples. As a result, sinomenine, magnoflorine, coclaurine, acutumine, and higenamine are proposed as chemical markers for quality control. Higenamine and coclaurine are also recommended as chemical markers for safety control. This report provides five alkaloids that can be used as chemical markers for improving the quality and safety control of S. acutum stem. It also alerts athletes to avoid the risks associated with consuming S. acutum stem.

Simultaneous determination of twenty-nine active compounds in fuzhengjiedu granules by HPLC-QQQ-MS/MS

“…Specific or active constituents corresponding to Chinese herbs' function or biological activity should be selected as markers for content determination. Where a single composition cannot represent the overall activity of the drug substance, a multi-component detection method should be adopted [ 26 , 27 ]. Accordingly, the pharmacological activities of S 11 and S 9 from CP, S 7 , S 16 , S 8 , S 24 , and S 18 from GC, S 10 , S 3 , S 2 , and S 5 from JYH, S 27 from GJ, and S 23 from WZMT well represent the major indications or bioactivities of Fuzhengjiedu Granules as chemical markers, which are anti-inflammation, anti-virus, antioxidation, immunosuppression.…”

Discovery of quality control ingredients in burdock root by combining anti‐tumor effects and UHPLC–QqQ–MS/MS

“…Therefore, the selection of quality control indicators is essential. These selected ingredients can achieve the general purpose of controlling the quality and efficacy of Chinese medicines (He et al, 2017a; He et al, 2020; Huang et al, 2020; Wang et al, 2020). At present, there is no pharmacopeia standard for burdock root, which lacks quality control.…”

Sinomenium acutum Modulates Platelet Aggregation and Thrombus Formation by Regulating the Glycoprotein VI-Mediated Signalosome in Mice

“…For the bleeding assay, one hour after the last administration, mice were anaesthetized, and the tail bleeding assay was performed as previously described [34]. The phytochemical components of Sinomenium acutum were identified as depicted above [16,17] and compared with the reference retention time and mass spectrum. The latter included higenamine, gelsemine, magnoflorine, scopoletin, columbamine, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, syringin, and eleutheroside E, which were purchased from TargetMol (Wellesley Hills, MA, USA).…”