Ultra-performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole/Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry Based Bile and Urine Metabonomics Study on the Ameliorative Effects of Curcuma wenyujin Rhizoma on Acute Blood Stasis in Rats

Background: Curcuma wenyujin rhizome(CWR) is a commonly used Chinese herbal medicine for treating blood stasis in China for 1000 of years. However, the underlying mechanism of CWR remains unclear. Aims and Objectives: The purpose of this study is to clarify the bioactive mechanism of CWR in treating blood stasis. Materials and Methods: In this study, pharmacological indexes, including hemorheology and four blood coagulation indexes were tested. Bile and urine metabolomics were engaged by UPLC-Q/TOF-MS. Multivariate statistical analysis were used to screen out differential endogenous metabolites. Results: The results indicated that CWR significantly ameliorated the hemorheology and coagulation functions of acute blood stasis(ABS) model rats. Moreover, 27 endogenous metabolites between the CWR group and the ABS group were screened, and the levels were all improved to certain degrees by CWR preadministration. Metabonomics results indicated that ABS was mainly related to linoleic acid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, pentose and glucuronate intercereasonversions, steroid hormone biosynthesis, and primary bile acid biosynthesis. Conclusion: In a word, the metabolomics method is consistent with the holistic view of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) that can be a powerful means to illustrate the biological activity mechanism of CWR in treating blood stasis and to offer research demonstration for further study on the effector mechanism of TCM.

Serum metabolic profiling of targeted bile acids reveals potentially novel biomarkers for primary biliary cholangitis and autoimmune hepatitis

BACKGROUND Primary biliary cholangitis(PBC)and autoimmune hepatitis(AIH)are two unexplained immune diseases.The golden standard for diagnosis of these diseases requires a liver biopsy.Liver biopsy is not widely accepted by patients because of its invasive nature,and atypical liver histology can confuse diagnosis.In view of the lack of effective diagnostic markers for PBC and AIH,combined with the increasingly mature metabolomics technologies,including full-contour metabolomics and target.AIM To determine non-invasive,reliable,and sensitive biochemical markers for the differential diagnosis of PBC and AIH.METHODS Serum samples from 54 patients with PBC,26 patients with AIH and 30 healthy controls were analyzed by Ultra-high performance liquid chromatographytandem mass spectrometry serum metabolomics.The metabolites and metabolic pathways were identified,and the metabolic changes,metabolic pathways and inter-group differences between PBC and AIH were analyzed.Fifteen kinds of target metabolites of bile acids(BAs)were quantitatively analyzed by SRM,and the differential metabolites related to the diagnosis of PBC were screened by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.RESULTS We found the changes in the levels of amino acids,BAs,organic acids,phospholipids,choline,sugar,and sugar alcohols in patients with PBC and AIH.Furthermore,the SRM assay of BAs revealed the increased levels of chenodeoxycholic acid,lithocholic acid(LCA),taurolithocholic acid(TLCA),and LCA+TLCA in the PBC group compared with those in the AIH group.The levels of BAs may be used as biomarkers to differentiate PBC from AIH diseases.The levels of glycochenodeoxycholic acid,glycochenodeoxycholic sulfate,and taurodeoxycholic acid were gradually elevated with the increase of Child-Pugh class,which was correlated with the severity of disease.CONCLUSION The results demonstrated that the levels of BAs could serve as potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis and assessment of the severity of PBC and AIH.

Application of UPLC-QTOF-MS Technology in Quality Stability Evaluation of Moluodan Concentrated Pills

[Objectives]To use liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry technology to analyze the chemical composition of traditional Chinese medicine and explore its application in the evaluation of quality stability of traditional Chinese medicine.[Methods]Ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-QTOF-MS)was used to detect the samples of Moluodan concentrated pills.By comparing and analyzing the detection results of 10 different batches of Moluodan concentrated pills,combined with principal component analysis(PCA),the quality stability of Moluodan concentrated pills was evaluated.[Results]A total of 367 chemical components were identified in Moluodan concentrated pills.The average repetition rate of the chemical components contained in the 10 different batches of samples reached 92%.The overall quality stability of the Moluodan concentrated pills was good.[Conclusions]The UPLC-QTOF-MS technology combined with PCA provides a reference for the overall quality evaluation of Moluodan concentrated pills,and provides new detection methods and ideas for the analysis of the components of Chinese medicine.

地衣内生真菌Pestalotiopsis sp.次生代谢产物

拟盘多毛孢属Pestalotiopsis真菌由于能够产生大量结构新颖活性显著的次生代谢产物,特别是从中发现抗肿瘤药物紫杉醇,成为近年来研究的热点。本研究通过对1株地衣内生真菌Pestalotiopsis sp.的固体培养基次生代谢产物的UPLC-Q-TOF-MS分析,发现该菌株能够产生分子量比较特殊的两个色谱峰。通过进一步的菌株大量发酵,结合硅胶柱色谱,高效液相色谱等技术跟踪分离,得到了2个单体化合物。采用核磁共振波谱技术、质谱技术等方法确定这2个单体化合物平面结构,分别为已知torrenyanic acid衍生物(1)和新化合物pestalotiopsin(2)。比对化合物的CD谱及考虑生源关系,确定了新化合物(2)的绝对构型。化合物1和2的体外抑制人白血病细胞K562实验显示二者均具有抗肿瘤活性,IC50值分别为25.2和32.1μmol/L。