Quality consistency evaluation on four origins of Cicadae Periostracum by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis

Publication date: Available online 13 November 2019Source: Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical AnalysisAuthor(s): Xin-Ci Cao, Xiao-Ya Zhang, Jin-Di Xu, Hong Shen, Shan-Shan Zhou, He Zhu, Ming Kong, Wei Zhang, Gui-Rong Zhou, Yi He, Qian Mao, Song-Lin LiAbstractCicadae Periostracum, which is derived from the slough of Cicadidae insects, is a commonly used crude drug in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). As specified in Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Cryptotympana atrata (CA) is the only official species of this crude drug. However, the slough of other three species, i.e., Auritibicen flammatus (AF), Cryptotympana mandrina (CM) and Platypleura kaempferi (PK), have been also used as the origins of Cicadae Periostracum in Chinese herbal market, although whether the quality of these four origins is consistent or not is still unknown. In present study, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS) was employed to qualitatively and quantitatively compare the chemical profiles of the four origins. Totally, 34 N-acetyldopamine polymers were identified from the four origins, including 4 N-acetyldopamine dimers, 11 N-acetyldopamine trimers, 10 N-acetyldopamine tetramers, and 9 N-acetyldopamine pentamers. AF, CM and PK had similar chemical profiles with that of CA. The contents and compositional ratio of the four types of polymers in CA, AF and CM were consistent with each other, but significantly lower or different i...
Source: Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research