Semen Cuscutae is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine and contains a series of compounds such as flavonoids, chlorogenic acids and lignans. In this study, we identified different kinds of compositions by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (MS). A total of 45 compounds were observed, including 20 chlorogenic acids, 23 flavonoids and 2 lignans. 23 of them are reported for the first time including 6-O-caffeoyl-β-glucose, 3-O-(4′-O-Caffeoylglucosyl) quinic acid, etc. Their structures were established by retention behavior, extensive analyses of their MS spectra and further determined by comparison of their MS data with those reported in the literature. As chlorogenic acids and flavonoids are phenolic compounds that are predominant in Semen Cuscutae, in conclusion, phenolic compounds are the major constituents of Semen Cuscutae.

Temperature is an essential condition in red ginseng processing. The pharmacological activities of red ginseng under different steam temperatures are significantly different. In this study, an ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry was developed to distinguish the red ginseng products that were steamed at high and low temperatures. Multivariate statistical analyses such as principal component analysis and supervised orthogonal partial least squared discrimination analysis were used to determine the influential components of the different samples. The results showed that different steamed red ginseng samples can be identified, and the characteristic components were 20-gluco-ginsenoside Rf, ginsenoside Re, ginsenoside Rg1, and malonyl-ginsenoside Rb1 in red ginseng steamed at low temperature. Meanwhile, the characteristic components in red ginseng steamed at high temperature were 20R-ginsenoside Rs3 and ginsenoside Rs4. Polar ginsenosides were abundant in red ginseng steamed at low temperature, whereas higher levels of less polar ginsenosides were detected in red ginseng steamed at high temperature. This study makes the first time that differences between red ginseng steamed under different temperatures and their ginsenosides transformation have been observed systematically at the chemistry level. The results suggested that the identified chemical markers can be used to illustrate the transformation of ginsenosides in red ginseng processing.

Mountain-cultivated ginseng (MCG) and cultivated ginseng (CG) both belong to Panax ginseng and have similar ingredients. However, their pharmacological activities are different due to their significantly different growth environments. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS)-based approach was developed to distinguish MCG and CG. Multivariate statistical methods, such as principal component analysis and supervised orthogonal partial-least-squares discrimination analysis were used to select the influential components. Under optimized UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS conditions, 40 ginsenosides in both MCG and CG were unambiguously identified and tentatively assigned. The results showed that the characteristic components of CG and MCG included ginsenoside Ra3/isomer, gypenoside XVII, quinquenoside R1, ginsenoside Ra7, notoginsenoside Fe, ginsenoside Ra2, ginsenoside Rs6/Rs7, malonyl ginsenoside Rc, malonyl ginsenoside Rb1, malonyl ginsenoside Rb2, palmitoleic acid, and ethyl linoleate. The malony ginsenosides are abundant in CG, but higher levels of the minor ginsenosides were detected in MCG. This is the first time that the differences between CG and MCG have been observed systematically at the chemical level. Our results suggested that using the identified characteristic components as chemical markers to identify different ginseng products is effective and viable.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is becoming a more prevalent public health issue in today's culture. The experimental study of Coptidis Rhizoma (CR) and its chemical components in AD treatment has been widely reported, but the principle of multi-level and multi-mechanism treatment of AD urgently needs to be clarified.Objective: This study focuses on network pharmacology to clarify the mechanism of CR's multi-target impact on Alzheimer's disease.Methods: The Phytochemical-compounds of CR have been accessed from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) and Symmap database or HPLC determination. The values of Oral Bioavailability (OB) ≥ 30% and Drug Like (DL) ≥ 0.18 or blood ingredient were used to screen the active components of CR; the interactive network of targets and compounds were constructed by STRING and Cytoscape platform, and the network was analyzed by Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE); Gene Ontology (GO) function, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Pathway (KEGG) and metabolic pathway enrichment of targets were carried out with Metascape, the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) and MetaboAnalyst platform; Based on CytoHubba, the potential efficient targets were screened by Maximal Clique Centrality (MCC) and Degree, the correlation between potential efficient targets and amyloid β-protein (Aβ), Tau pathology was analyzed by Alzdata database, and the genes related to aging were analyzed by Aging Altas database, and finally, the core targets were obtained; the binding ability between ingredients and core targets evaluated by molecular docking, and the clinical significance of core targets was assessed with Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database.Results: 19 active components correspond to 267 therapeutic targets for AD, of which 69 is potentially effective; in module analysis, RELA, TRAF2, STAT3, and so on are the critical targets of each module; among the six core targets, RELA, MAPK8, STAT3, and TGFB1 have clinical therapeutic significance; GO function, including 3050 biological processes (BP), 257 molecular functions (MF), 184 cellular components (CC), whose functions are mainly related to antioxidation, regulation of apoptosis and cell composition; the HIF-1 signaling pathway, glutathione metabolism is the most significant result of 134 KEGG signal pathways and four metabolic pathways, respectively; most of the active components have an excellent affinity in docking with critical targets.Conclusion: The pharmacological target prediction of CR based on molecular network pharmacology paves the way for a multi-level networking strategy. The study of CR in AD treatment shows a bright prospect for curing neurodegenerative diseases.

The primary processed product of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (P. ginseng) is red ginseng. As technology advances, new products of red ginseng have arisen. Red ginseng products, e.g., traditional red ginseng, sun ginseng, black ginseng, fermented red ginseng, and puffed red ginseng, are commonly used in herbal medicine. Ginsenosides are the major secondary metabolites of P. ginseng. The constituents of P. ginseng are significantly changed during processing, and several pharmacological activities of red ginseng products are dramatically increased compared to white ginseng. In this paper, we aimed to review the ginsenosides and pharmacological activities of various red ginseng products, the transformation law of ginsenosides in processing, and some clinical trials of red ginseng products. This article will help to highlight the diverse pharmacological properties of red ginseng products and aid in the future development of red ginseng industrialization.

Processing is a traditional pharmacy technology based on traditional Chinese medicine theory. The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) ingredients should be processed before being used as a medicine. Processed bitter almonds are widely used in the clinic in TCM for the treatment of cough and asthma. In this work the amygdalin profile of three producing areas in China was determined, with respect to three differently processed bitter almond products: raw, stir-fried and scalded. Identification of the compounds was done by using high performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS). Results indicated that amygdalin, neoamygdalin and amygdalin amide were identified in the different processed bitter almonds. Meanwhile, amygdalin was used as a standard to calculate the quantification of amygdalin and the concentration ratio of neoamygdalin and total amygdalin by HPLC-DAD. The data suggested that composition of amygdalin isomers in bitter almonds was influenced by the processing method. It also gives a new understanding of the processing principle of bitter almonds. Moreover, the classification of different processed bitter almonds can be achieved on the basis of amygdalin isomers levels.