National Center for Natural Products Research, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA.
School of Pharmacy, Heilongjinag University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Jan 22;20(3):475. doi: 10.3390/ijms20030475.
Eleutherococcus senticosus Maxim. belongs to the Araliaceae family. Phytochemical studies reveal that E. senticosus leaves contain triterpene glycosides along with organic acid derivatives and flavonoid compounds. It is believed that E. senticosus is similar to ginseng because they come from same family and both contain triterpene saponins. E. senticosus leaves have been developed as a functional beverage called ci-wu-jia tea in recent years. Triterpene glycosides are difficult to identify by ultraviolet (UV) detection and contents of these compounds are low in E. senticosus leaves. In this study, a sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatographic (UHPLC) method combining UV and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was developed to characterize the triterpene glycosides from E. senticosus leaves and related commercial products. Fragmentation patterns of three sub-groups of triterpene glycosides in E. senticosus leaves were investigated. Additionally, fragmentation pathways and UV characteristics of organic acid derivatives and flavonoids were also characterized. A compound screening library, including 241 compounds reported in the literature, was created and used to confirm the compounds in the samples. In this study, a total of 24 samples, including 13 plant samples of E. senticosus and 11 ci-wu-jia tea products, were analyzed. Out of the 11 commercial products, three products were discovered to contain green tea (Camellia sinensis) that was considered to be an adulterant since it was not an ingredient on the labels. The developed UHPLC-UV-MS/MS analytical method combined with the UNIFI processing method can simultaneously characterize organic acid derivatives, flavonoids, and triterpene saponins from E. senticosus. It provides a simple and sensitive way to perform quality control of E. senticosus and related ci-wu-jia tea products.
刺五加属于五加科。植物化学研究表明，刺五加叶含有三萜糖苷，以及有机酸衍生物和类黄酮化合物。由于它们来自同一科，并且都含有三萜皂苷，因此人们认为刺五加类似于人参。近年来，刺五加叶已被开发为一种名为刺五加茶的功能性饮料。三萜糖苷很难通过紫外 (UV) 检测来识别，并且在刺五加叶中的含量较低。在这项研究中，开发了一种结合紫外和串联质谱 (MS/MS) 的灵敏超高效液相色谱 (UHPLC) 方法，用于鉴定刺五加叶及其相关商业产品中的三萜糖苷。研究了刺五加叶中三萜糖苷的三个亚组的裂解模式。此外，还对有机酸衍生物和类黄酮的裂解途径和 UV 特征进行了表征。创建了一个化合物筛选库，其中包括文献中报道的 241 种化合物，并用于确认样品中的化合物。在这项研究中，分析了 24 个样品，包括 13 种刺五加植物样品和 11 种刺五加茶产品。在 11 种商业产品中，发现有三种产品含有绿茶（Camellia sinensis），这被认为是一种掺杂物，因为标签上没有提到它是成分之一。所开发的 UHPLC-UV-MS/MS 分析方法结合 UNIFI 处理方法，可以同时对刺五加中的有机酸衍生物、类黄酮和三萜皂苷进行特征分析。它为刺五加及其相关的刺五加茶产品的质量控制提供了一种简单而灵敏的方法。
