Background Shuanglong formula (SLF), a Chinese medicine composed of panax ginseng and salvia miltiorrhiza exhibited significant effect in the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI) in clinical. Because of the complex nature and lack of stringent quality control, it's difficult to explain the action mechanism of SLF. Method In this study, we present a "system to system" (S2S) mode. Based on this mode, SLF was simplified successively through bioactivity-guided screening to achieve an optimized minimal phytochemical composition (new formula NSLF6) while maintaining its curative effect for MI. Results Pharmacological test combining with the study of systems biology show that NSLF6 has activity for treatment MI through synergistic therapeutic efficacies between total ginsenosides and total salvianolic acids via promoting cardiac cell regeneration and myocardial angiogenesis, antagonistic myocardial cell oxidative damage. Conclusions The present S2S mode may be an effective way for the discovery of new composite drugs from traditional medicines.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the steaming-induced chemical transformation of red ginseng manufactured from fresh ginseng by means of simultaneous quantitative and qualitative analyses with a combinative high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS(n)) technique. Thirty-six ginsenosides were identified in red ginseng and white ginseng by comparing the mass spectrum and/or matching the empirical molecular formula with that of known published compounds, and 11 of them were determined to be newly generated during the red ginseng preparatory process. The mechanisms involved were further deduced to be hydrolysis, dehydration, isomerization, and decarboxylation at C-20, and hydrolysis also occurs at C-3 or C-6 of the original ginsenosides through the mimic process of steaming and heating in laboratory. The multicomponent quantification fingerprint of ginseng was also established by HPLC-UV method, and the contents of 12 ginsenosides in red and white ginsengs from different sources were determined simultaneously. The ratio of the total content of determined malonyl ginsenosides to the corresponding neutral ginsenosides (T(m-PPD)/T(PPD)) in white ginseng ranged from 0.46 to 0.62 and from 0 to 0.19 in red ginseng. The validated method is expected to provide an effective approach to standardize the processing procedures of ginseng products and regulate the usage of ginseng in Traditional Chinese Medical prescription.

AIM To use elution-extrusion counter-current chromatography(EECCC) to separate and prepare ginsenoside-Rg1,Rf and Rd in Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma.METHODS Ethyl acetate-n-butanol-0.1%formic acid(2∶ 1∶ 3,v/v) was chosen as the solvent system.The upper phase was used as stationary phase,and the lower phase used as mobile phase.The apparatus was rotated at 1 250 r/min,and the mobile(lower) phase was pumped into the column at 40 mL/min.The switch volume(VCM) was 2 400 mL.RESULTS Under the chosen condition,the preparetion yielded 71 mg,21 mg and 53 mg of ginsenoside-Rg1,Rf and Rd with a purity of 96.2%,94.3% and 95.1% by HPLC from 300 mg crude sample,respectively.CONCLUSION EECCC is a rapid and simple counter-current chromatography technique,which is effective for separation and purification of the solutes with larger partition coefficient(KD) values.

A two-step counter-current chromatography (CCC) method was developed for the preparation of ginsenoside-Re, Rb1, Rc and Rb2 from ginseng with two solvent systems, methylene chloride–methanol–water–isopropanol (6:2:4:3, v/v) and n-hexane–n-butanol–0.1% formic acid (0.7:3:4, v/v). The classical CCC mode was applied in the first separation step while the elution-extrusion counter-current chromatography (EECCC) in the second separation step. The preparation yielded 76.1mg, 137.0mg, 58.8mg and 85.1mg of ginsenoside-Re, Rb1, Rc and Rb2 with the purity of 97.5%, 94.4%, 91.6% and 92.2%, respectively, from 1440.0mg of crude sample. The recoveries of these ginsenosides after the two-step separation were 68.7%, 65.6%, 40.1% and 46.6%, respectively. The process throughput of crude sample was 5.14mg/min while the process efficiencies of ginsenoside-Re, Rb1, Rc and Rb2 were 0.54mg/mL, 0.49mg/min, 0.21mg/min and 0.30mg/min, respectively. The structures of the targets were characterized by liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC–ESI-MS) and confirmed with the standards.

Ginsenoside-Ro which belongs to the oleanane-type saponins has anti-inflammatory, anti-platelet, anticomplementary and immunomodulatory activities. The present paper described the preparation of ginsenoside-Ro from panax ginseng with high recovery and efficiency by combination of normal-phase medium-pressure liquid chromatography (NP-MPLC) and high-performance counter-current chromatography (HPCCC). The crude sample was preliminarily chromatographed by NP-MPLC to enrich ginsenoside-Ro to the purity of 70.2% with 95.0% recovery. Then, the enriched sample was further purified by HPCCC with a solvent system composed of ethyl acetate–isopropanol–0.1% formic acid (3:1:5, v/v), where 61 mg ginsenoside-Ro was obtained from 100 mg enriched sample with 96.0% purity and 83.4% recovery. The overall recovery of ginsenoside-Ro was 79.2%, whose structure was identified by liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC–ESI-MS) finally.