Yuan Sun, Lu Wang, Mei-Mei Peng, Wei-Dong L I, Xia-Chang Wang, Chun-Qin Mao, Tu-Lin L U, Li-Hong Chen, Kun-Ming Qin
School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Nanjing 210023, China Engineering Center of State Ministry of Education for Standardization of Chinese Medicine Processing, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Nanjing 210023, China.
School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Nanjing 210023, China.
Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi. 2020 Nov;45(21):5209-5218. doi: 10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20200820.302.
Licorice has long been regarded as one of the most popular herbs, with a very wide clinical application range. Whether being used alone or as an ingredient in prescription, it has an important role which cannot be ignored. However, the efficacy and chemical constituents of licorice will change after honey-processing. Therefore, it is necessary to find quality markers before and after honey-processing to lay the foundation for a comprehensive evaluation of the differences between raw and processed licorice pieces. HPLC-DAD was employed to establish fingerprints of raw and processed licorice. Multivariate statistical analysis methods including principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discrimination analysis(OPLS-DA) were applied to screen out the differential components before and after processing of licorice. Based on network pharmacology, the targets and pathways corresponding to the differential components were analyzed with databases such as Swiss Target Prediction and Metascape, and the "component-target-pathway" diagram was constructed with Cytoscape 3.6.0 software to predict the potential quality markers. A total of 17 common peaks were successfully identified in the established fingerprint, and seven differential components were selected as potential quality markers(licoricesaponin G2, glycyrrhizic acid, liquiritigenin, liquiritin, isoliquiritin, liquiritin apioside and isoliquiritigenin). The HPLC fingerprint method proposed in this study was efficient and feasible. The above seven differential chemical components screened out as potential quality markers of licorice can help to improve and promote the overall quality. These researches offer more sufficient theoretical basis for scientific application of licorice and its corresponding products.
甘草长期以来一直被视为最受欢迎的草药之一，临床应用范围非常广泛。无论是单独使用还是作为方剂中的一味药，它都有着不可忽视的重要作用。然而，甘草蜜炙后其功效和化学成分会发生变化。因此，有必要找出蜜炙前后的质量标志物，为全面评价甘草生品与炮制品的差异奠定基础。采用高效液相色谱 - 二极管阵列检测器（HPLC - DAD）建立甘草生品和炮制品的指纹图谱。运用主成分分析（PCA）和正交偏最小二乘法判别分析（OPLS - DA）等多元统计分析方法筛选出甘草炮制前后的差异成分。基于网络药理学，利用瑞士靶点预测（Swiss Target Prediction）和Metascape等数据库分析差异成分对应的靶点和通路，并使用Cytoscape 3.6.0软件构建“成分 - 靶点 - 通路”图来预测潜在的质量标志物。在所建立的指纹图谱中成功鉴定出17个共有峰，选取7个差异成分作为潜在质量标志物（甘草皂苷G2、甘草酸、甘草素、甘草苷、异甘草苷、甘草苷元芹糖葡萄糖苷和异甘草素）。本研究提出的HPLC指纹图谱方法高效可行。筛选出的上述7种差异化学成分作为甘草的潜在质量标志物有助于提高和提升整体质量。这些研究为甘草及其相应产品的科学应用提供了更充分的理论依据。
