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Published on: July 30, 2008
Quantitative Evaluation of Twelve Major Components of Sulfur-Fumigated Astragali Radix with Different Durations by
Xiaoyan Xing1, Zhonghao Sun2, Meihua Yang3
1Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resource Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of Innovative Drug Discovery of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Natural Medicine) and Translational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Efficacy Evaluation of Chinese Medicine against Glycolipid Metabolic Disorders, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100193, China. xyxing@implad.ac.cn.
Abstract:
In this study, an improved UPLC-MS (Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry) method for simultaneously quantifying twelve major components belonging to two chemical types was developed and validated, and was applied to quantitatively compare the quality of sulfur-fumigated Astragali Radix of different durations and of the fresh reference sample. The results showed that the contents of triterpenes astragaloside III and astragaloside IV decreased moderately, while the flavonoids calycosin, formononetin, and 7,2'-dihydroxy-3',4'-dimethoxyisoflavane decreased significantly. The corresponding flavonoid glycosides increased accordingly, which indicated the occurrence of chemical transformation of flavonoids and glycosides in the process of sulfur-fumigation. These transformations were further confirmed by the synthesis of flavonoid glycosides under simulated sulfur-fumigation circumstances. Furthermore, the sulfur-fumigated duration varied in proportion with the contents of compounds 7, 11, and 12. These results suggest that the established method was precise, accurate and sensitive enough for the global quality evaluation of sulfur-fumigated Astragali Radix. Further, sulfur-fumigation not only changes the proportions of bioactive components, but also causes chemical transformation in Astragali Radix.
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