title: Chemical changes of Angelicae Sinensis Radix and Chuanxiong Rhizoma by wine treatment: chemical profiling and marker selection by gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Angelicae Sinensis Radix (ASR) and Chuanxiong Rhizoma (CR) can be treated with wine to promote their biological functions in Chinese medicine. Both ASR and CR contain similar volatile chemicals that could be altered after wine treatment. This study aims to identify the differential chemical profiles and to select marker chemicals of ASR and CR before and after wine treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chemical analyses were carried out by gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-QQQ-MS/MS) coupled with multivariate statistical analysis. Characterization of the compositions of essential oils was performed by automated matching to the MS library and comparisons of their mass spectra (NIST08 database). For ferulic acid, butylphthalide, Z-butylidenephthalide, senkyunolide A and Z-ligustilide, the mass spectrometer was operated in electron ionization mode, the selection reaction monitoring mode was used and an evaluation of the stability and sensitivity of the chromatographic system was performed for the tested extraction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Principal component analysis (PCA) simultaneously distinguished ASR and CR from different forms. Ferulic acid, Z-butylidenephthalide, Z-ligustilide, butylphthalide and senkyunolide A were screened by PCA loading plots and can be used as chemical markers for discrimination among different groups of samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Different chemical profiles of ASR and CR after wine treatment could be identified by GC-QQQ-MS/MS. The five marker chemicals selected by PCA, namely ferulic acid, butylphthalide, Z-butylidenephthalide, senkyunolide A and Z-ligustilide, were sufficient to distinguish between the crude and corresponding wine-treated forms of ASR and CR.
authors.affiliation: Division of Life Science and Center for Chinese Medicine, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China. davidlau@ust.hk.
authors.forename: Janis Ya-Xian
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: Wendy Li
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ken Yu-Zhong
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Kevin Yue
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jian-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Pui-Hei
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Tina Ting-Xia
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Roy Chi-Yan
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Karl Wah-Keung
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Tsim
authors.forename: David Tai-Wai
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Lau