School of Pharmacy, Jiangsu University, 301(#) Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu Province, China.
ADR Monitoring Center, Zhenjiang Food and Drug Supervision and Inspection Center, Jiangsu, Zhenjiang, 212000, Jiangsu Province, China.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2020 Mar 1;249:112377. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2019.112377. Epub 2019 Nov 7.
The influence of sulfur fumigation processing on chemical profile, pharmacological activity and safety of Chinese herbs has attracted great attention. Panacis Quinquefolii Radix (PQR) was more widely used as edible and medicinal than Ginseng because of its tonifying effect and characteristic of not getting inflamed. The disadvantage of sulfur fumigated (SF) Ginseng has been reported, but the systematic study of SF-PQR is deficient and urgently needed.
To systematically describe the influence of sulfur fumigation on chemical profile, characteristic products, immunoregulation and liver and kidney injury of PQR.
ICP-MS and HPLC-DAD were used to detect 11 inorganic elements and 3 ginsenosides, respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to distinguish SF-PQR from non-sulfur fumigated (NSF)-PQR by combining the content changes of inorganic elements and ginsenosides. UPLC/Orbitrap-MS was applied to screen the characteristic products (m/z) after sulfur fumigation. For the effectiveness and safety, male KM mice were used to compare the immunomodulatory effects of NSF-PQR or SF-PQR under both healty and cyclophosphamide induced immunosuppressive conditions by net growth rate of body weight, thymus and spleen indices, serum IL-6, SOD, BUN, AST levels, and HE staining of liver and kidney.
Sulfur fumigation processing significantly reduced the contents of ginsenosides Rb, Re and Rg with the elevation of inorganic elements in 20 batches PQR. Based on the scatter distribution of PCA, SF-PQR and NSF-PQR can be distinguished. According to the Rt, Precursor ion (m/z) and Product ion (m/z) produced by UPLC/Orbit trap-MS, R-SO (m/z, 1059.53), Re-SO (m/z, 1025.55), Rg-SO (m/z, 878.47), Ro-SO (m/z, 1035.32), Rb-SO (m/z, 1179.58), and Rk-SO (m/z, 745.40) could be confirmed as important markers for identifying SF-PQR. The effect of SF-PQR on reversing immunosuppression induced by cyclophosphamide was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) evidenced by the inhibition of net growth rate of body weight, immune organ index, IL-6 level and SOD activity. For healthy mice, SF-PQR not only failed to maintain the normal indexes, but also reduced the indexes to lower levels. After 2 weeks of continuous gastric administration, the abnormal liver and kidney functions in healthy mice were damaged and manifested by the increasing of BUN and AST levels, which was consistent with hepatic lesion area and renal tubular injury observed by HE staining.
Sulfur fumigation processing not only reduced the immunomodulatory effect of PQR, but also brought the hidden danger in liver and kidney injury. The sulfonated products provided in this paper can be applied for the identification of SF-PQR accurately.
硫磺熏制加工对中药化学特征、药理活性和安全性的影响引起了极大关注。由于其滋补作用和不发炎的特点，西洋参比人参更广泛地被用作食用和药用。已经报道了硫磺熏制（SF）人参的缺点，但对 SF-西洋参的系统研究还很缺乏，急需进行。
系统描述硫磺熏制对西洋参化学特征、特征产物、免疫调节以及肝肾损伤的影响。
采用电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）和高效液相色谱-二极管阵列检测法（HPLC-DAD）分别检测 11 种无机元素和 3 种人参皂苷。通过结合无机元素和人参皂苷含量变化，采用主成分分析（PCA）将硫磺熏制西洋参（SF-PQR）与非硫磺熏制（NSF）西洋参区分开来。采用超高效液相色谱/轨道阱质谱法（UPLC/Orbitrap-MS）筛选硫磺熏制后的特征产物（m/z）。雄性 KM 小鼠用于比较 NSF-PQR 或 SF-PQR 在健康和环磷酰胺诱导免疫抑制条件下的免疫调节作用，通过体重、胸腺和脾脏指数、血清 IL-6、SOD、BUN、AST 水平的净增长率以及肝、肾的 HE 染色进行评估。
硫磺熏制处理显著降低了 20 批西洋参中人参皂苷 Rb、Re 和 Rg 的含量，同时提高了无机元素的含量。基于 PCA 的散点分布，SF-PQR 和 NSF-PQR 可以区分开来。根据 UPLC/Orbitrap-MS 产生的保留时间（Rt）、前体离子（m/z）和产物离子（m/z），可以确认 R-SO（m/z，1059.53）、Re-SO（m/z，1025.55）、Rg-SO（m/z，878.47）、Ro-SO（m/z，1035.32）、Rb-SO（m/z，1179.58）和 Rk-SO（m/z，745.40）是识别 SF-PQR 的重要标志物。SF-PQR 对环磷酰胺诱导的免疫抑制的逆转作用明显减弱（P<0.05），表现在体重净增长率、免疫器官指数、IL-6 水平和 SOD 活性的抑制。对于健康小鼠，SF-PQR 不仅未能维持正常指标，反而将指标降低到更低水平。连续灌胃 2 周后，健康小鼠的肝肾功能异常受损，表现为 BUN 和 AST 水平升高，与 HE 染色观察到的肝损伤面积和肾小管损伤一致。
硫磺熏制处理不仅降低了西洋参的免疫调节作用，而且还带来了肝肾损伤的隐患。本文提供的磺化产物可用于准确识别 SF-PQR。
