Abashev Mikhail, Stekolshchikova Elena, Stavrianidi Andrey
Chemistry Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia.
Center for Neurobiology and Brain Restoration, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow, 121205, Russia.
J Ginseng Res. 2021 Mar;45(2):246-253. doi: 10.1016/j.jgr.2020.07.001. Epub 2020 Jul 9.
Ginseng is one of the most valuable herbal supplements. It is challenging to perform quality control of ginseng products due to the diversity of bioactive saponins in their composition. Acid or alkaline hydrolysis is often used for the structural elucidation of these saponins and sugars in their side chains. Complete transformation of the original ginsenosides into their aglycones during the hydrolysis is one of the ways to determine a total saponin group content. The main hurdle of this approach is the formation of various by-products that was reported by many authors.
Separate HPLC assessment of the total protopanaxadiol, protopanaxatriol and ocotillol ginsenoside contents is a viable alternative to the determination of characteristic biomarkers of these saponin groups, such as ginsenoside Rf and pseudoginsenoside F, which are commonly used for authentication of Meyer and L. samples respectively. Moreover, total ginsenoside content is an ideal aggregated parameter for standardization and quality control of ginseng-based medicines, because it can be directly applied for saponin dosage calculation.
Different hydrolysis conditions were tested to develop accurate quantification method for the elucidation of total ginsenoside contents in herbal products. Linearity, limits of quantification, limits of detection, accuracy and precision were evaluated for the developed HPLC-MS method.
Alkaline hydrolysis results in fewer by-products than sugar elimination in acidic conditions. An equimolar response, as a key parameter for quantification, was established for several major ginsenosides. The developed approach has shown acceptable results in the analysis of several different herbal products.
人参是最有价值的草药补充剂之一。由于人参产品中生物活性皂苷成分的多样性，对其进行质量控制具有挑战性。酸或碱水解常用于这些皂苷及其侧链中糖的结构解析。在水解过程中将原始人参皂苷完全转化为其苷元是确定总皂苷基团含量的方法之一。许多作者报道，这种方法的主要障碍是会形成各种副产物。
分别通过高效液相色谱法评估原人参二醇、原人参三醇和齐墩果酸型人参皂苷的总含量，是测定这些皂苷基团特征生物标志物的可行替代方法，这些生物标志物分别是人参皂苷Rf和假人参皂苷F，常用于分别鉴定迈耶氏人参和朝鲜人参样品。此外，总人参皂苷含量是基于人参的药物标准化和质量控制的理想综合参数，因为它可直接用于皂苷剂量计算。
测试了不同的水解条件，以开发用于阐明草药产品中总人参皂苷含量的准确定量方法。对所开发的高效液相色谱-质谱法的线性、定量限、检测限、准确度和精密度进行了评估。
与酸性条件下的脱糖反应相比，碱性水解产生的副产物更少。为几种主要人参皂苷建立了作为定量关键参数的等摩尔响应。所开发的方法在分析几种不同的草药产品时显示出可接受的结果。
