title: Bioactive components on immuno-enhancement effects in the traditional Chinese medicine Shenqi Fuzheng Injection based on relevance analysis between chemical HPLC fingerprints and in vivo biological effects.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Shenqi Fuzheng Injection (SFI) is an injectable traditional Chinese herbal formula comprised of two Chinese herbs, Radix codonopsis and Radix astragali, which were commonly used to improve immune functions against chronic diseases in an integrative and holistic way in China and other East Asian countries for thousands of years.
  
  
  METHODS
  This present study was designed to explore the bioactive components on immuno-enhancement effects in SFI using the relevance analysis between chemical fingerprints and biological effects in vivo. According to a four-factor, nine-level uniform design, SFI samples were prepared with different proportions of the four portions separated from SFI via high speed counter current chromatography (HSCCC). SFI samples were assessed with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for 23 identified components. For the immunosuppressed murine experiments, biological effects in vivo were evaluated on spleen index (E1), peripheral white blood cell counts (E2), bone marrow cell counts (E3), splenic lymphocyte proliferation (E4), splenic natural killer cell activity (E5), peritoneal macrophage phagocytosis (E6) and the amount of interleukin-2 (E7). Based on the hypothesis that biological effects in vivo varied with differences in components, multivariate relevance analysis, including gray relational analysis (GRA), multi-linear regression analysis (MLRA) and principal component analysis (PCA), were performed to evaluate the contribution of each identified component.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicated that the bioactive components of SFI on immuno-enhancement activities were calycosin-7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (P9), isomucronulatol-7,2'-di-O-glucoside (P11), biochanin-7-glucoside (P12), 9,10-dimethoxypterocarpan-3-O-xylosylglucoside (P15) and astragaloside IV (P20), which might have positive effects on spleen index (E1), splenic lymphocyte proliferation (E4), splenic natural killer cell activity (E5), peritoneal macrophage phagocytosis (E6) and the amount of interleukin-2 (E7), while 5-hydroxymethyl-furaldehyde (P5) and lobetyolin (P13) might have negative effects on E1, E4, E5, E6 and E7. Finally, the bioactive HPLC fingerprint of SFI based on its bioactive components on immuno-enhancement effects was established for quality control of SFI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In summary, this study provided a perspective to explore the bioactive components in a traditional Chinese herbal formula with a series of HPLC and animal experiments, which would be helpful to improve quality control and inspire further clinical studies of traditional Chinese medicines.
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Quality R&D Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Jinxu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Quality R&D Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Quality R&D Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Peibo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Quality R&D Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Menghua
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Quality R&D Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Quality R&D Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou 510275, PR China; National Engineering Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhuhai 519020, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Quality R&D Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou 510275, PR China. Electronic address: lssswwhk@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Su
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D007107:Immune System / Q000187:drug effects*; D016867:Immunocompromised Host / Q000187:drug effects*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D025341:Principal Component Analysis
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C521737:shenqi fuzheng
keywords: 5-hydroxymethyl-furaldehyde (PubChem CID: 237332); Astragaloside IV (PubChem CID: 158694); Bioactive components; Biochanin-7-glucoside (PubChem CID: 5280781); Calycosin-7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (PubChem CID: 5318267); Immuno-enhancement effects; Radix astragali; Radix codonopsis; Relevance analysis; Shenqi Fuzheng Injection; lobetyolin (PubChem CID: 6369123)