Background: Chinese materia medica processing is a distinguished and unique pharmaceutical technique in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) used for reducing side effects, and increasing or even changing therapeutic efficacy of the raw herbs.Changes in the essential components induced by an optimized processing procedure are primarily responsible for the increased efficacy of medicinal plants.The kidney-yang invigorating effect of rice wine-steamed Cistancha deserticola (C. deserticola) was stronger than raw C. deserticola (CD). Methods: A comparison analysis was carried out using the UPLC-Q-TOF-MS^E with the UNIFI informatics platform to determine the influence of processing. In vitro studies were performed for the characterization of constituents as well as metabolites in vivo. The chemical components were determined in CD and its processed products. The multivariate statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate variations between them while OPLS-DA was used for pairwise comparison. Results: The results of this study revealed considerable variations in phenylethanoid glycosides (PhGs) and iridoids after processing. A total of 97 compounds were detected in the extracts of CD and its processed product. PhGs having 4'-O-caffeoyl group in the 8-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl part, like acteoside, cistanoside C, campneoside II, osmanthuside decreased after being processed, while PhGs with 6'-O-caffeoyl group in the 8-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl part, such as isoacetoside, isocistanoside C, isocampneoside I, isomartynoside increased, especially in the CD-NP group. The intensity of echinacoside and cistanoside B whose structure possess 6'-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl moiety also increased. In in vivo study, 10 prototype components and 44 metabolites were detected in rat plasma, feces, and urine. The obtained results revealed that processing leads to the considerable variation in the chemical constituents of CD and affected the disposition of the compounds in vivo, and phase II metabolic processes are the key cascades of each compound and most of the metabolites are associated with echinacoside or acteoside. Conclusions: This is the first global comparison research of raw and processed CD. These findings add to our understanding of the impact of CD processing and give important data for future efficacy investigations.

Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex is widely used in the clinic of traditional Chinese medicine. In order to enlarge the range of application, it is necessary to processed with honey, salt-water, and rice-wine, respectively. We hope to elucidate the connotation of processing, an UPLC-QqQ-MS method was used for determination and comparison the tissue distribution of alkaloids and triterpenes after oral administration water-extracts of crude and processed products. The results showed that the berberine, phellodendrine, magnoflorine, limonin, and obacunone in crude and processed products were distributed in all tissues, especially in the small intestine and stomach. In this study, we can provide a scientific basis for explaining the processing connotation of Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex processed with salt-water and rice-wine, respectively. Graphical Abstract

A rapid and sensitive quantitative analytical method was established for the simultaneous determination of five chromones (prim-O-glucosylcimifugin, cimifugin, 4′-O-β-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol, 5-O-methylvisammiol, and sec-o-glucosylhamaudol) in the plasma of RS-treated rats for the first time using ultra performance liquid chromatography- (UPLC-) tandem mass spectrometry. The Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C18 (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) was used as the chromatographic column, 0.1% formic acid water and 0.1% formic acid acetonitrile comprised the mobile phases, and all samples were determined under positive ion mode. The results showed that all analytes had good linearity (r>0.9902), between-day and within-day precisions less than 15%, accuracy between −5.50% and 5.53%, and extraction recovery between 88.26% and 97.65%. Both the matrix effect and stability met the requirements. This method was successfully applied for the comparative pharmacokinetics of five active components of RS in normal and febrile rats. The results showed that the pharmacokinetic behavior of RS extract significantly differed between the two types of rats.

Salt processing, which involves steaming with salt water, directs herbs into the kidney channel. After being salt processed, kidney invigorating effects occur. However, the underlying mechanism of this method remains elusive. The compounds monotropein, rubiadin, and rubiadin 1-methyl ether are the major effective components of Morinda officinalis How. To clarify the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of these three compounds, we employed liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to determine the contents of the three components in rat plasma and tissues. Separation was achieved on an Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.8 μm, Waters). Formic acid aqueous solution (0.1%; A) and acetonitrile (containing 0.1% formic acid; B) were used as the mobile phase system with a programmed elution of 0∼5 min with 70% A and then 5∼7 min with 60% A. All analytes were measured with optimized multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) in negative ion mode. Geniposide and 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone were used as the internal standards (IS). The linear ranges were 1.2∼190, 1.3∼510, and 0.047∼37.5 μg/mL, respectively. Compared with the Morinda officinalis without wood (MO) group, the C_max and AUC_0-t parameters of rubiadin and rubiadin 1-methyl ether elevated remarkably for the salt-processed Morinda officinalis (SMO) groups, which indicates that steaming by salt could increase the bioavailability of rubiadin and rubiadin 1-methyl ether. The T_max for monotropein is shorter (0.5 h) in SMO groups than that in MO group, which means that monotropein was quickly absorbed in the SMO extract. Moreover, the contents of three compounds in the small intestine were the highest.

Background: The Phellodendri amurensis cortex is a traditional Chinese medicine with multiple pharmacodymic uses (antibacterial, anti-inflammation, antitumor, etc). It is often processed by saltwater to strengthen its effects in terms of nourishing yin to reduce pathogenic fire and reducing asthenic fever. To clarify the principle of saltwater processing, an experiment of pharmacokinetic comparison after oral administration from crude P. amurensis cortex and its saltwater processed product was carried out. Materials and Methods: A validated and sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was established for simultaneous quantification of five alkaloids and one triterpene in rat. An UPLC C₁₈column was used for chromatograph separation by an elution program with the mobile phase consisting of 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile. Each analytes and internal standard, nimodipine, was detected using positive ion scan mode via multiple reaction monitoring mode. All of the validation parameters investigated involving selectivity, precision, accuracy, extraction recovery, matrix effects, and stability shown this approach was suitable to the pharmacokinetic study. Results: Pharmacokinetic profiles showed these parameters of maximum of drug concentration and AUC_0-tof alkaloids analytes elevated remarkably after oral administration of P. amurensis cortex processed with the saltwater. Conclusion: The results suggested that the absorption effect from the saltwater processed product was better than those from crude product, which could explain that saltwater processing may enhance the activity of clearing heat and removing toxicity from P. amurensis cortex.