Quantification and discovery of quality markers from Toddalia asiatica by UHPLC-MS/MS coupled with chemometrics

Toddalia asiatica (TA) is a classical traditional Chinese medicine used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and contusions. However, research regarding TA quality control is currently limited.

We aimed to establish a strategy for identifying quality markers that can be used for the evaluation of the quality of TA.

A rapid and efficient ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the quantitative determination of 19 compounds in TA from different regions. Then, the extraction process of TA was successively optimized by single-factor optimization and response surface methodology. Moreover, chemometrics was employed to confirm the correlation between quality and target compounds.

Utilizing the UHPLC-MS/MS method, separation of the 19 bioactive compounds was achieved within 14 min. The method was validated in terms of linearity (r² > 0.9982), precision (0.08%-3.70%), repeatability (0.50%-2.54%), stability (2.26%-5.46%), and recovery (95.8%-113%). The optimal extraction process (extraction solvent, 65% ethanol aqueous solution; solid-liquid ratio, 1:20; extraction time, 25 min) was determined with the total content of 19 bioactive compounds as indicator. Significant disparities were observed in the contents of target compounds across different batches of TA. Besides, all samples could be categorized into two distinct groups, and magnoflorine, (-)-lyoniresinol, nitidine chloride, norbraylin, skimmianine, and decarine were identified as quality markers.

In the present study, we developed a strategy to improve the quality control of TA. In consideration of the pharmacodynamic activity and statistical differences, six compounds are proposed as quality markers for TA.