National and Local Collaborative Engineering Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization and Formulae Innovative Medicine, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicinal Resources Recycling Utilization under National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, P. R. China.
Animal-Derived Chinese Medicine and Functional Peptides International Collaboration Joint Laboratory, Nanjing, P. R. China.
Electrophoresis. 2023 Jul;44(13-14):1088-1096. doi: 10.1002/elps.202300023. Epub 2023 Mar 28.
Elaphuri Davidiani Cornu (EDC) is the antler of the male Père David's deer, which has been reported to have multiple biological activities, and its use as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in China has been known for thousands of years. However, EDC is difficult to distinguish from other related species-derived antlers in powder or extract form in TCM clinic use, such as Cervus elaphus Cornu (CEC) and Cervus nippon Cornu (CNC), both derived from Cervidae and easily confused with EDC. In this study, a strategy using peptidomics combined with mathematics set analysis was used to identify EDC-specific peptide biomarkers, and four specific peptide biomarkers (Pep-E1-E4) were identified and validated. Pep-E1, Pep-E3, and Pep-E4 could be exclusively detected in EDC samples, with relative peak areas of 0.298 ± 0.060, 0.039 ± 0.015, and 0.037 ± 0.008, whereas Pep-E2 showed relative peak area of 0.516 ± 0.101 in EDC, 0.132 ± 0.026 in CEC, and 0.136 ± 0.047 in CNC samples, respectively. These four peptides are applicable to distinguish EDC from CEC and CNC, which is of great significance for the quality control of EDC.
梅花鹿鹿茸（EDC）是雄性梅花鹿的角，据报道具有多种生物活性，其作为中药在中国已有数千年的使用历史。然而，在中医临床使用中，EDC 很难与其他相关物种来源的鹿角（如马鹿角（CEC）和日本梅花鹿角（CNC））在粉末或提取物形式上区分开来，因为它们都来自鹿科，很容易与 EDC 混淆。在这项研究中，采用肽组学结合数学集分析的策略来鉴定 EDC 特异性肽生物标志物，鉴定并验证了四个特定的肽生物标志物（Pep-E1-E4）。Pep-E1、Pep-E3 和 Pep-E4 可专一地在 EDC 样品中检测到，相对峰面积分别为 0.298±0.060、0.039±0.015 和 0.037±0.008，而 Pep-E2 在 EDC 中的相对峰面积为 0.516±0.101，在 CEC 中为 0.132±0.026，在 CNC 中为 0.136±0.047。这四个肽可用于区分 EDC 与 CEC 和 CNC，这对 EDC 的质量控制具有重要意义。
