College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Molecules. 2019 Oct 6;24(19):3595. doi: 10.3390/molecules24193595.
Toad venom (Chansu), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has been widely used for treating various cancer. However, it is considerably difficult to evaluate the quality of Chansu due to its complex chemical compositions. Hence, finding the characteristic ingredients and developing a scientific and comprehensive quality evaluation method are essential for guaranteeing the safety and efficacy of Chansu. In this paper, the chemical composition database of Chansu was successfully established and HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS was applied for chemical profiling of the ingredients in Chansu. In total, 157 compounds were identified, including 22 amino acids, 8 alkaloids, 54 bufogenins, 63 bufotoxins, and 10 other compounds. Furthermore, HPLC fingerprints and quantitative analysis of its multicomponent were successfully developed to evaluate the quality consistency of Chansu from different origins. The results suggested that the HPLC fingerprint of Chansu could be divided into an amino acid and alkaloid region, as well as a bufogenins and bufotoxins region. The fingerprint profile of Chansu from different geographical origins were different, indicating that its quality was affected by the geographical factors. In addition, seven characteristic peaks were selected as the quantitative markers to evaluate the quality of the Chansu. The Kruskal-Wallis test illustrated that the contents of seven bufogenins in Chansu were significantly ( < 0.01) different among different origins. The total contents of the seven compounds ranged from 100.40 to 169.22 mg/g in 20 batches of Chansu samples. This study demonstrated that integrating HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS, HPLC fingerprints, and multicomponent quantitative analysis coupled with chemometrics was a comprehensive and reliable strategy for evaluation of Chansu in both qualitative and quantitative aspects. In addition, our study represented the most comprehensive characterization on the chemical compositions of Chansu, which could provide important reference information for the discovery of potential bioactive compounds.
蟾酥（Chansu），一种传统的中药（TCM），已被广泛用于治疗各种癌症。然而，由于其复杂的化学成分，要评估蟾酥的质量相当困难。因此，找到特征成分并开发科学和全面的质量评估方法对于保证蟾酥的安全性和疗效至关重要。在本文中，成功建立了蟾酥的化学成分数据库，并应用 HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS 对蟾酥中的成分进行了化学分析。总共鉴定出 157 种化合物，包括 22 种氨基酸、8 种生物碱、54 种蟾毒配基、63 种蟾毒毒素和 10 种其他化合物。此外，还成功开发了 HPLC 指纹图谱和多成分定量分析方法，以评估来自不同产地的蟾酥的质量一致性。结果表明，蟾酥的 HPLC 指纹图谱可分为氨基酸和生物碱区以及蟾毒配基和蟾毒毒素区。不同地理来源的蟾酥指纹图谱不同，表明其质量受到地理因素的影响。此外，选择了 7 个特征峰作为定量标志物来评估蟾酥的质量。Kruskal-Wallis 检验表明，蟾酥中 7 种蟾毒配基的含量在不同产地之间存在显著差异（<0.01）。7 种化合物的总含量在 20 批蟾酥样品中从 100.40 到 169.22 毫克/克不等。本研究表明，将 HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS、HPLC 指纹图谱和多成分定量分析与化学计量学相结合是一种全面可靠的评价蟾酥质量的方法，既可以定性又可以定量。此外，我们的研究代表了对蟾酥化学成分的最全面描述，可为发现潜在的生物活性化合物提供重要参考信息。
