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Monoester‐diterpenoid alkaloids are the main bioactive components of Sini decoction, which is a well‐known traditional Chinese medicine formula for the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure in China. In this work, an ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry combined with microdialysis method was successfully established and applied for investigating for the first time comparative plasma pharmacokinetics of three monoester‐diterpenoid alkaloids (benzoylmesaconitine, benzoylaconitine and benzoylhypacoitine) in normal and MI rats after oral administration of Sini decoction. The statistical results of pharmacokinetic parameters demonstrated that benzoylmesaconitine, benzoylaconitine and benzoylhypacoitine showed lower peak concentration, longer half‐life, smaller area under the concentration–time curve, slower clearance, time to peak concentration and mean residence time in MI rats than in normal rats (p < 0.05), which indicated that monoester‐diterpenoid alkaloids exhibited lower systemic exposure and slower elimination in the MI rats. The results provided the experimental basis for understanding the metabolic fate and therapeutic effects of Sini decoction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world. However, current biomarkers that discriminate HCC from liver cirrhosis (LC) are important but are limited. More reliable biomarkers for HCC diagnosis are therefore needed. Serum from HCC patients, LC patients and healthy volunteers were analyzed using NMR and LC/MS-based approach in conjunction with random forest (RF) analysis to discriminate their serum metabolic profiles. Thirty-two potential biomarkers have been identified, and the feasibility of using these biomarkers for the diagnosis of HCC was evaluated, where 100% sensitivity was achieved in detecting HCC patients even with AFP values lower than 20 ng/mL. The metabolic alterations induced by HCC showed perturbations in synthesis of ketone bodies, citrate cycle, phospholipid metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, fatty acid oxidation, amino acid catabolism and bile acid metabolism in HCC patients. Our results suggested that these potential biomarkers identified appeared to have diagnostic and/or prognostic values for HCC, which deserve to be further investigated. In addition, it also suggested that RF is a classification algorithm well suited for selection of biologically relevant features in metabolomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT A liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometric (LC-TOFMS) method has been developed for analysis of components in Qifu decoction (QFD), a traditional Chinese medical formula consisting of Radix Astragali and Acontium carmichaeli, and in rat plasma after oral administration. Based on accurate mass measurements within 3 ppm error for each molecular ion and subsequent fragment ions of TOFMS, as well as matching of empirical molecular formulae with those of published components in the in-house chemical library, a total of 44 major components including 21 diterpenoid alkaloids, 12 flavonoids and 11 saponins were identified in QFD. After oral administration of QFD, 22 components in rat plasma were detected and identified by comparing and contrasting the constituents measured in QFD with those in the plasma samples. The results provided valuable chemical information for further pharmacology and active mechanism research on QFD. LC-TOFMS was also applied for the comparison of relative peak area of major active components between QFD and the single herb extracts. The concentration ratios of major saponins detected in the crude herb Radix Astragali were found to be different from those in QFD. The experimental data indicated that the decocting process could result in differences in the amounts of active components. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Aconite roots are popularly used in herbal medicines in China. Many cases of accidental and intentional intoxication with this plant have been reported; some of these are fatal because the toxicity of aconitum is very high. It is thus important to detect and identify aconitum alkaloids in biofluids. In this work, an improved method employing LC-TOFMS with multivariate data analysis was developed for screening and analysis of major aconitum alkaloids and their metabolites in rat urine following oral administration of aconite roots extract. Thirty-four signals highlighted by multivariate statistical analyses including 24 parent components and 10 metabolites were screened out and further identified by adjustment of the fragmentor voltage to produce structure-relevant fragment ions. It is helpful for studying aconite roots in toxicology, pharmacology and forensic medicine. This work also confirmed that the metabolomic approach provides effective tools for screening multiple absorbed and metabolic components of Chinese herbal medicines in vivo. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]