Safflower is a popular Chinese medicinal plant and Safflower injection is extensively used for the clinical treatment of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. In this study, HPLC-DAD-ESI-MSn was utilized to stu...Safflower is a popular Chinese medicinal plant and Safflower injection is extensively used for the clinical treatment of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. In this study, HPLC-DAD-ESI-MSn was utilized to study the stability and degradation of the two major but chemically unstable bioactive compounds hydroxysaffior yellow A and anhydrosaffior yellow B, in Safflower injection. The impact of light irradiation, temperature, and pH on the stability of these two compounds were studied. The results showed that hydroxysafflor yellow A and anhydrosafflor yellow B could degrade at high temperature (〉60 ℃) or extreme pHs (pH ≤ 3.0 or 〉7.0), but not under light irradiation. The common degradation product was p-coumaric acid. Chemical structures of the other degradation products were characterized by LC-MS. Hypothetical degradation pathways were proposed. In addition, ADP-induced platelet aggregation tests showed that the degradation of anhydrosaffior yellow B could reduce the anticoagulation activities of Safflower injection. Our results suggest that temperature and pH are critically important for the preparation and storage of Safflower injection.展开更多
基金Changjiang Scholar and Innovative Research Team in University (Grant No. 985-2-063-112)Youth Research Fellowship of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Grant No. 2009A203)
文摘Safflower is a popular Chinese medicinal plant and Safflower injection is extensively used for the clinical treatment of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. In this study, HPLC-DAD-ESI-MSn was utilized to study the stability and degradation of the two major but chemically unstable bioactive compounds hydroxysaffior yellow A and anhydrosaffior yellow B, in Safflower injection. The impact of light irradiation, temperature, and pH on the stability of these two compounds were studied. The results showed that hydroxysafflor yellow A and anhydrosafflor yellow B could degrade at high temperature (〉60 ℃) or extreme pHs (pH ≤ 3.0 or 〉7.0), but not under light irradiation. The common degradation product was p-coumaric acid. Chemical structures of the other degradation products were characterized by LC-MS. Hypothetical degradation pathways were proposed. In addition, ADP-induced platelet aggregation tests showed that the degradation of anhydrosaffior yellow B could reduce the anticoagulation activities of Safflower injection. Our results suggest that temperature and pH are critically important for the preparation and storage of Safflower injection.