title: Bioactivity evaluation-based ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry and novel distinction of multi-subchemome compatibility recognition strategy with Astragali Radix-Fructus Corni herb-pair as a case study.
abstract: The approach to investigate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is still in its infancy and has been facing enormous challenge. In this paper, a generally applicable strategy was developed for investigation on TCM systematically with an introduced interesting idea about a novel research system which called subchemome. A representative herb-pair, Astragali Radix-Fructus Corni, was successfully employed to expound this novel strategy. Firstly, subchemomes were prepared individually by applying the suitable column chromatography, each of them was detected by UV spectrophotometer or HPLC-DAD detector. The components in each part were then identified based on the mass spectrometric fragmentation patterns and tandem mass spectrometric data by using UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS. Using renal mesangial cell (RMC) viability assay as the evaluation of the pharmacological activity of each group, we developed the new mini herbal formulae aimed at diabetic nephropathy and identified fifteen marker components between the group of new mini herbal formulae and other groups from the angle of the constituent, and then explored the effects of new mini herbal formulae from another angle of the molecular mechanism. Overall, the presently developed strategy should be beneficial and widely used in the investigation on TCM from a new perspective.
authors: School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Engineering Center of State Ministry of Education for Standardization of Chinese Medicine Processing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Duan
authors: School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Engineering Center of State Ministry of Education for Standardization of Chinese Medicine Processing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Institute of Pharmaceutical and Food Engineering, Shanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taiyuan 030024, PR China.
authors: Ke
authors: K
authors: Pei
authors: School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Engineering Center of State Ministry of Education for Standardization of Chinese Medicine Processing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China. Electronic address: haocai_98@126.com.
authors: Hao
authors: H
authors: Cai
authors: Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2031, Australia.
authors: Sicong
authors: S
authors: Tu
authors: Department of Analytical Chemistry, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 211198, PR China.
authors: Zhengwei
authors: Z
authors: Zhang
authors: College of Pharmacy, Ohio State University, OH 43210, USA.
authors: Xinwei
authors: X
authors: Cheng
authors: School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Engineering Center of State Ministry of Education for Standardization of Chinese Medicine Processing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors: Fengxian
authors: F
authors: Qiao
authors: School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Engineering Center of State Ministry of Education for Standardization of Chinese Medicine Processing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors: Kailei
authors: K
authors: Fan
authors: School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Engineering Center of State Ministry of Education for Standardization of Chinese Medicine Processing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors: Kunming
authors: K
authors: Qin
authors: School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Engineering Center of State Ministry of Education for Standardization of Chinese Medicine Processing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors: Xiao
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Engineering Center of State Ministry of Education for Standardization of Chinese Medicine Processing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, PR China. Electronic address: bccai@126.com.
authors: Baochang
authors: B
authors: Cai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019659:Asteraceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D027883:Astragalus Plant / Q000737:chemistry*; D027885:Astragalus propinquus; D002460:Cell Line; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D029768:Cornus / Q000737:chemistry*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry; D051381:Rats; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C027492:Huang Qi
keywords: Anti-diabetic nephropathy activity; Multi-subchemome compatibility recognition strategy; Subchemome; Traditional Chinese medicine; Ultra high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry