Chemical profiling of Re-Du-Ning injection by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry through the screening of diagnostic Ions in MS(E) mode

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 13;10(4):e0121031. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121031. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The broad applications and mechanism explorations of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions (TCMPs) require a clear understanding of TCMP chemical constituents. In the present study, we describe an efficient and universally applicable analytical approach based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization tandem quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-Q/TOF-MS) with the MS(E) ((E) denotes collision energy) data acquisition mode, which allowed the rapid separation and reliable determination of TCMP chemical constituents. By monitoring diagnostic ions in the high energy function of MS(E), target peaks of analogous compounds in TCMPs could be rapidly screened and identified. "Re-Du-Ning" injection (RDN), a eutherapeutic traditional Chinese medicine injection (TCMI) that has been widely used to reduce fever caused by viral infections in clinical practice, was studied as an example. In total, 90 compounds, including five new iridoids and one new sesquiterpene, were identified or tentatively characterized by accurate mass measurements within 5 ppm error. This analysis was accompanied by MS fragmentation and reference standard comparison analyses. Furthermore, the herbal sources of these compounds were unambiguously confirmed by comparing the extracted ion chromatograms (EICs) of RDN and ingredient herbal extracts. Our work provides a certain foundation for further studies of RDN. Moreover, the analytical approach developed herein has proven to be generally applicable for profiling the chemical constituents in TCMPs and other complicated mixtures.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acids / analysis*
  • Artemisia / chemistry
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / methods*
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal / administration & dosage
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal / chemistry*
  • Flavonoids / analysis*
  • Gardenia / chemistry
  • Injections
  • Ions / analysis
  • Iridoids / analysis*
  • Lonicera / chemistry
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / methods*

Substances

  • Acids
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal
  • Flavonoids
  • Ions
  • Iridoids

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20140441); the Jiangsu Province Postdoctoral Science Foundation (1401771C) and the Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (B13038). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.