Analysis of Multi-ingredient Food Supplements by Fingerprint HPTLC Approach

The increase of import/export of every kind of herbal products calls urgently for adequate controls. Analysis of herbal food supplement （botanicals） is a difficult task, like in the composition determination of a multi-ingredient product, where several botanical drugs were used. Actually, this is an important argument in consideration of health security. The authors reported the results of an analytical approach based on HPTLC （high performance thin layer chromatography） fingerprints comparison and tailored to determine the composition of marketed multi-ingredient botanicals. The method gave positive data in case of the presence of 3-5 species, whereas difficulties were recorded when the number of plants is increased.

Rationale for Treatment of Common Cold and Flu with Multi-Ingredient Combination Products for Multi-Symptom Relief in Adults

This up-to-date overview will look at the rationale for the recommendation of combination products for multi-symptom relief of common cold and flu. Common cold and flu are defined by their multi-symptom nature with data showing a variety of symptoms reported simultaneously each day over the first six days of illness. Multi-ingredient combination products for multi-symptom relief are formulated to safely, simply, and simultaneously treat multiple symptoms when used as directed. The rationale for the formulation combination products for common cold and flu is therefore practical, logical and reasonable. No evidence has been found that multi-symptom relief medicines are inherently less safe than single-active ingredient medicines. Multi-symptom relief combination products containing several active ingredients provide a safe, effective, cost-effective, and convenient way of treating the multiple symptoms of common cold and flu, when used as directed. This therapy requires some special information for the patient to be provided by the physician and the pharmacist.

Chromatographic fingerprinting and quantitative analysis for the quality evaluation of Xinkeshu tablet

A simple, sensitive and accurate method based on high performance liquid chromato- graphy （HPLC） with diode array detector （DAD） was developed and validated for systematic quality evaluation of one type of traditional Chinese medicine preparations named Xinkeshu （XKS） tablet. In this study, the chromatographic fingerprints of XKS tablet were developed first, 23 peaks were selected as the common peaks to evaluate the similarities among different batches of XKS samples, which were manufactured in a long time span of three years. Additionally, simultaneous quantification of six markers in XKS tablet, including Danshensu, Protocatechuic aldehyde, Puerarin, Daidzin, Salvianolic acid B and Daidzein, was performed. The validation results showed that the developed method was specific, accurate, precise and robust. The preliminary explanation on why a close similarity between fingerprints did not exactly mean similar contents of chemical components in samples was given. The contribution of each chromatographic peak to similarity was also evaluated. The developed method offers an efficient, reliable and practical approach for systematic quality evaluation of XKS tablet.

Application of UHPLCMS/ MS method in determining the content of multiingredient in hospital preparations

In the present study, we established an ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry （UHPLC-MS/MS） method to simultaneously determine 11 compounds in two hospital preparations （Shegan mixture and Gandi capsules）, including ephedrine, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, rutin, scutellarin, belamcandin, baicalin, baicalein, astragaloside IV, irisflorentin and wogonin. The chromatographic separation was conducted on ZORBAX SB-C18 （2.1 mm×50 mm, 1.8 μm）. Eleven analytes and IS were detected using ESI and MRM combined with positive and negative scanning switch. Caffeic acid, ferulic acid, scutellarin and belamcandin were detected using negative ion mode detection, whereas ephedrine, rutin, baicalin, baicalein, astragaloside IV, irisflorentin and wogonin were detected using positive ion mode detection. The quantification limits of ephedrine, caffeic acid, scutellarin, belamcandin, baicalin, baicalein, irisfiorentin and wogonin were 4.90×10^-3 ng/mL, 7.80 ng/mL, 6.8 ng/mL, 5.3×10^-2 ng/mL, 4.20×10^-3 ng/mL, 4.6×10^-2 ng/mL, 1.44×10^-4 ng/mL, 4.85 ng/mL, 0.23 ng/mL, 3.18× 10^-4 ng/mL and 2.95× 10^-4 ng/mL, respectively. The detection limits of these components were 2.90× 10^-4 ng/mL, 0.77 ng/mL, 2.0 ng/mL, 0.016 ng/mL, 1.3×10^-3 ng/mL, 3.33×10^-4 ng/mL, 4.32×10^-5 ng/mL, 1.46 ng/mL, 0.07 ng/mL, 9.5×10^-5 ng/mL and 8.84× 10^-5 ng/mL, respectively. All calibration curves showed good linearity （R^2〉0.99） within the test range. The RSD values of intra-day and inter-day precision were less than 5%, and the average recovery rates of the 11 components ranged fi＇om 80% to 120%. In conclusion, our newly developed method was simple, rapid, sensitive and accurate. It could be used to determine ephedrine, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, rutin, scutellarin, belamcandin, baicalin, baicalein, astragaloside IV, irisflorentin and wogonin in Shegan mixture and Gandi capsules, which was helpful for the quality control of drugs.