Simultaneous Determination of Bufadienolides and Qualitative Evaluation for Venenum Bufonis by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

A high performance liquid chromatographic method was used for the simultaneous identification and qualitative evaluation of 12 bufadienolides（resibufogenin, einobufagin, cinobufaginol, arenobufagin, bufalin, bufotalin, gamabufotalin, cinobufotalin, ψ-bufaranogin, desacetylcinobufagin, telocinobufagin and resibufogenol） in Venenum Bufonis. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Dikma C18 analytical column via gradient elution with an aqueous solution of acetonitrile and 0.3% acetic acid at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The method was validated to be acceptable in consideration of linearity（r2 〉 0.9992） and recovery（ranged from 98.9% to 102.0%）. The limits of detection of the bufadienolides were from 0.48 ng for bufalin to 6.00 ng for cinobufotalin. The intra-day and inter-day precisions of the method were evaluated and were less than 3.0%. The method was successfully used to analyze 19 batches of Venenum Bufonis, and the similarity values between batches were calculated by Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of TCM（Version 2004A, Chinese Pharmacopoeia Committee, Beijing）. The results show that the contents of bufadienolides in the medicine and the similarity values based on these bufadienolides varied significantly from batch to batch. This proposed method could be utilized to qualify and control Venenum Bufonis to ensure its safety and efficacy in application.

An integrated strategy for comprehensive characterization of metabolites and metabolic profiles of bufadienolides from Venenum Bufonis in rats

Comprehensive characterization of metabolites and metabolic profiles in plasma has considerable significance in determining the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)in vivo.However,this process is usually hindered by the insufficient characteristic fragments of metabolites,ubiquitous matrix interference,and complicated screening and identification procedures for metabolites.In this study,an effective strategy was established to systematically characterize the metabolites,deduce the metabolic pathways,and describe the metabolic profiles of bufadienolides isolated from Venenum Bufonis in vivo.The strategy was divided into five steps.First,the blank and test plasma samples were injected into an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/linear trap quadrupole-orbitrap-mass spectrometry(MS)system in the full scan mode continuously five times to screen for valid matrix compounds and metabolites.Second,an extension-mass defect filter model was established to obtain the targeted precursor ions of the list of bufadienolide metabolites,which reduced approximately 39%of the interfering ions.Third,an acquisition model was developed and used to trigger more tandem MS(MS/MS)fragments of precursor ions based on the targeted ion list.The acquisition mode enhanced the acquisition capability by approximately four times than that of the regular data-dependent acquisition mode.Fourth,the acquired data were imported into Compound Discoverer software for identification of metabolites with metabolic network prediction.The main in vivo metabolic pathways of bufadienolides were elucidated.A total of 147 metabolites were characterized,and the main biotransformation reactions of bufadienolides were hydroxylation,dihydroxylation,and isomerization.Finally,the main prototype bufadienolides in plasma at different time points were determined using LC-MS/MS,and the metabolic profiles were clearly identified.This strategy could be widely used to elucidate the metabolic profiles of TCM preparations or Chinese patent medicines in vivo and provide critical data for rational drug use.