Chun-Hua Wang

Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of the Major Constituents in Chinese Medical Preparation Lianhua-Qingwen Capsule by UPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS

Lianhua-Qingwen capsule (LQC) is a commonly used Chinese medical preparation to treat viral influenza and especially played a very important role in the fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-2003 in China. In this paper, a rapid ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array detector and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-DAD-QTOF-MS) method was established for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the major constituents of LQC. A total of 61 compounds including flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, anthraquinones, triterpenoids, iridoids, and other types of compounds were unambiguously or tentatively identified by comparing the retention times and accurate mass measurement with reference compounds or literature data. Among them, twelve representative compounds were further quantified as chemical markers in quantitative analysis, including salidroside, chlorogenic acid, forsythoside E, cryptochlorogenic acid, amygdalin, sweroside, hyperin, rutin, forsythoside A, phillyrin, rhein, and glycyrrhizic acid. The UPLC-DAD method was evaluated with linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), precision, stability, repeatability, and recovery tests. The results showed that the developed quantitative method was linear, sensitive, and precise for the quality control of LQC.

Phytochemical and Pharmacological Studies on the Genus Psoralea: A Mini Review

The genus Psoralea, which belongs to the family Fabaceae, comprises ca. 130 species distributed all over the world, and some of the plants are used as folk medicine to treat various diseases. Psoralea corylifolia is a typical example, whose seeds have been widely used in many traditional Chinese medicine formulas for the treatment of various diseases such as leucoderma and other skin diseases, cardiovascular diseases, nephritis, osteoporosis, and cancer. So, the chemical and pharmacological studies on this genus were performed in the past decades. Here, we give a mini review on this genus about its phytochemical and pharmacological studies from 1910 to 2015.

Combining Chemical Profiling and Network Analysis to Investigate the Pharmacology of Complex Prescriptions in Traditional Chinese Medicine

We present a paradigm, combining chemical profiling, absorbed components detection in plasma and network analysis, for investigating the pharmacology of combination drugs and complex formulae. On the one hand, the composition of the formula is investigated comprehensively via mass spectrometry analysis, followed by pharmacological studies of the fractions as well as the plasma concentration testing for the ingredients. On the other hand, both the candidate target proteins and the effective ingredients of the formula are predicted via analyzing the corresponding networks. The most probable active compounds can then be identified by combining the experimental results with the network analysis. In order to illustrate the performance of the paradigm, we apply it to the Danggui-Jianzhong formula (DJF) from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and predict 4 probably active ingredients, 3 of which are verified experimentally to display anti-platelet activity, i.e., (Z)-Ligustilide, Licochalcone A and Pentagalloylglucose. Moreover, the 3-compound formulae composed of these 3 chemicals show better anti-platelet activity than DJF. In addition, the paradigm predicts the association between these 3 compounds and COX-1, and our experimental validation further shows that such association comes from the inhibitory effects of the compounds on the activity of COX-1.

A new lignan from the roots of Syringa pinnatifolia

Phytochemical investigation of the roots of Syringa pinnatifolia has resulted in the isolation of a new lignan, pinnatifolin A (1), together with seven known compounds (2–8). The structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic methods, including NMR, MS, UV and IR spectra. The seven lignans were screened for their antioxidant activity (DPPH assay), and most of them showed potent antioxidant activity.

Chemical constituents from the fruits of Psoralea corylifolia and their protective effects on ionising radiation injury

Abstract Two new flavonoids, corylifol F (1) and corylifol G (2), together with 19 known compounds, were isolated from the fruits of Psoralea corylifolia L.. The structures of these compounds were determined by interpretation of spectroscopic data and comparison with literature properties. The radioprotective effects of the isolated compounds against ionising radiation damage were also evaluated in vitro. The results showed that corylifol A exhibited radioprotective effects in both HBL-100 and MCF-7 cells, while psoralen, isopsoralen, corylifol C and bakuchiol showed obvious selective action to protect HBL-100 cells against damage caused by ionising radiation.

Near infrared spectroscopy based monitoring of extraction processes of raw material with the help of dynamic predictive modeling

The control of batch-to-batch quality variations remains a challenging task for pharmaceutical industries, e.g., traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) manufacturing. One difficult problem is to produce pharmaceutical products with consistent quality from raw material of large quality variations. In this paper, an integrated methodology combining the near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and dynamic predictive modeling is developed for the monitoring and control of the batch extraction process of licorice. With the spectra data in hand, the initial state of the process is firstly estimated with a state-space model to construct a process monitoring strategy for the early detection of variations induced by the initial process inputs such as raw materials. Secondly, the quality property of the end product is predicted at the mid-course during the extraction process with a partial least squares (PLS) model. The batch-end-time (BET) is then adjusted accordingly to minimize the quality variations. In conclusion, our study shows that with the help of the dynamic predictive modeling, NIRS can offer the past and future information of the process, which enables more accurate monitoring and control of process performance and product quality.

Taxanes from Taxus wallichiana var. mairei cultivated in the southern area of the Yangtze River in China

Abstract A new and 25 known taxane diterpenoids were isolated from the dried whole plants of Taxus wallichiana var. mairei cultivated in the southern area of the Yangtze River in China. The chemical structure of new compound 1, named taxiwallinine, was established by means of MS and NMR analyses. Among the 25 known taxane compounds 2–26, compounds 10, 12, 14, 15, 17 and 21–23 were first isolated from this plant. Taxiwallinine and taxol were screened for the cytotoxic effect on human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 with IC50 values of 20.898 μg/mL and 0.008 μg/mL, respectively. Taxiwallinine showed moderate cytotoxicity to this cell line. These results demonstrate that T. wallichiana var. mairei cultivated in the southern area of the Yangtze River in China could be a renewable resource for extracting the taxane derivatives and the new compound, taxiwallinine, could be a potential anti-tumour product.

A new strategy for choosing “Q-markers” via network pharmacology, application to the quality control of a Chinese medical preparation

Due to its chemical complexity, proper quality control for a Chinese medical preparation (CMP) has been a great challenge. Choosing the appropriate quality markers (Q-markers) for quality control of CMP is an important work. Best of all, the chosen Q-markers are the main chemical compounds from the herbals as well as the active constituents of this CMP. Only in this way the established quality control system can really achieve the purpose of controlling the quality of CMP and ensuring the safely and effectively use of CMP. To achieve the purpose, network pharmacology combined with the contents of chemical compounds in the CMP has been used in this research. We took an anti-arrhythmic CMP, Shenxian-Shengmai oral liquid (SSOL), as an example. Firstly, UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS method was used to analyze the main components of SSOL. A total of 64 compounds were unambiguously or tentatively identified and 32 of them were further validated by reference compounds. Secondly, the network was constructed based on the identified compounds to predict the effective compounds related to cardiac arrhythmias. Based on the existing database and the operation method of topology, a method of double network analysis (DNAA) was proposed, from which 10 important targets in the pathway of arrhythmia were screened out, and 26 compounds had good antiarrhythmic activity. Based on the prediction results of network pharmacology along with the contents of the compounds in this CMP, ten representative compounds were chosen as the Q-markers for the quality control of SSOL. We find that five of these ten compounds, including danshensu, rosmarinic acid, salvianolic acid A, epimedin A and icariin, have antiarrhythmic activity. Then, the UPLC-DAD method was established as the control method for SSOL.

Chemical Constituents of the Whole Plants of Houttuynia cordata

Houttuynia cordata is a member of the Houttuynia genus, which is mainly distributed in the provinces to the south of the Yangtze River in China [1]. Modern pharmacological research on H. cordata has shown that it has multiple biological activities, such as antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, immunomodulatory, antiradiation, and antidiuretic effects [2–7]. Twenty-seven compounds were isolated and identified by MS and 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic analyses. Among them, eight compounds (1–8) were isolated from this plant for the first time. In addition, the in vitro antiviral activities of the isolates against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were evaluated. The whole plants of Houttuynia cordata Thunb. were provided by Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical Co. and authenticated by Dr. Chun-Hua Wang, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. A voucher specimen (No. 20120004CH) was deposited in the Research and Development Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biotechnology & Medicine. The air-dried plants (30 kg) were refluxed with 95% EtOH for 3 h. The extract was suspended in water and successively chromatographed on a macroporous resin D101 column eluted with EtOH–H2O (30%, 50%, and 95%). The 50% extract (250 g) was isolated on an ODS column with MeOH–H2O (0%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 95%) to yield five subfractions (F1–F5) and further purified by silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. The 95% extract (300 g) was subjected to silica gel column chromatography eluting with CH2Cl2–MeOH in a gradient manner, and further purified by silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and preparative HPLC to yield the compounds. The structures of compounds 1–8 were identified by a combination of spectroscopic methods (MS and 1H and 13C NMR) and physicochemical properties. Compounds 9–27 were identified by comparing their spectral data with those in the literature as aristolactam A II (9) [8], aristolactam B (10) [8], piperolactam A (11) [8], norcepharadione B (12) [8], 4,5-dioxodehydroasmilobine (13) [8], houttuynoid C (14) [9], houttuynoid A (15) [9], luteolin (16) [10], kaempferol (17) [11], pilloin (18) [12], kaempferol-3-O-L-rhamnoside (19) [11], quercetin-3-O-Lrhamnoside (20) [11], hyperin (21) [13], 3-methoxy-4-hydroxybenzoic acid (22) [14], p-hydroxybenzoic acid (23) [11], 3-methoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (24) [15], lauric acid (25) [16], daucosterol (26) [17], and -sitosterol (27). Genistein (1). Yellowish needles, mp 264–266 C. ESI-MS m/z 271 [M + H]+ [18]. Genistein-4 -O-D-glucopyranoside (2). Yellow powder, mp 267–269 C. 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6, , ppm, J/Hz): 8.38 (1H, s, H-2), 6.23 (1H, s, H-6), 6.40 (1H, s, H-8), 7.49 (2H, d, J = 8.4, H-2 , 6 ), 7.09 (2H, d, J = 8.0, H-3 , 5 ), 4.92 (1H, d, J = 6.8, H-1 ), 3.27 (2H, m, H-2 , 3 ), 3.70 (1H, d, J = 8.0, H-4 ), 3.17 (1H, m, H-5 ), 3.48 (2H, m, H-6 ). 13C NMR (100 MHz, DMSO-d6, , ppm): 154.4 (C-2), 124.2 (C-3), 180.1 (C-4), 162.0 (C-5), 99.0 (C-6), 164.3 (C-7), 93.7 (C-8), 157.3 (C-9), 104.5 (C-10), 121.9 (C-1 ), 130.0 (C-2 , 6 ), 116.1 (C-3 , 5 ), 157.6 (C-4 ), 100.3 (C-1 ), 73.2 (C-2 ), 77.1 (C-3 ), 69.7 (C-4 ), 76.6 (C-5 ), 60.7 (C-6 ) [19]. ESI-MS m/z 433 [M + H]+.