Comparative analysis of steroidal saponins in four Dioscoreae herbs by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.
Steroidal saponins, which exhibit multiple pharmacological effects, are the major bioactive constituents in herbal medicines from Dioscoreae species. In this study, a sensitive method based on high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) was established and validated for qualitative and quantitative analysis of steroidal saponins in four Dioscoreae herbs including Dioscoreae Nipponica Rhizome (DNR) and Dioscoreae Hypoglaucae Rhizome (DHR), Dioscoreae Spongiosae Rhizome (DSR) and Dioscoreae Rhizome (DR). A total of eleven steroidal saponins were identified by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-QTOF/MS). Furthermore, seven major steroidal saponins was simultaneous quantified using a high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (HPLC-QQQ/MS). The qualitative and quantitative analysis results indicated that the chemical composition of DNR, DHR and DSR samples exhibited a high level of global similarity, while the ingredients in DR varied greatly from the other three herbs. Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) were performed to compare and discriminate the Dioscoreae herbs based on the quantitative data. The results demonstrated the qualitative and quantitative analysis of steroidal saponins based on HPLC-MS is a feasible method for quality control of Dioscoreae herbs.
State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, No. 24 Tongjia Lane, Nanjing 210009, China.
Long
L
Guo
State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, No. 24 Tongjia Lane, Nanjing 210009, China.
Su-Ling
SL
Zeng
State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, No. 24 Tongjia Lane, Nanjing 210009, China.
Yu
Y
Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, No. 24 Tongjia Lane, Nanjing 210009, China. Electronic address: liping2004@126.com.
Ping
P
Li
State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, No. 24 Tongjia Lane, Nanjing 210009, China. Electronic address: liuehu20k@163.com.
E-Hu
EH
Liu
D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D027743:Dioscoreaceae; D010840:Phytosterols / Q000032:analysis*; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000032:analysis*; D012503:Saponins / Q000032:analysis*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
D010840:Phytosterols; D028321:Plant Preparations; D012503:Saponins
Dioscoreae herbs; HPLC–QQQ/MS; HPLC–QTOF/MS; Steroidal saponins