Chemical Profiling of Wen-Dan Decoction by UPLC/Q-TOF-MS/MS and Variation Analysis between Different Processes Based on Chemometric

Background : Wen-Dan decoction (WDD) is a traditional Chinese medical prescription composed of six herbs for the treatment of neurological diseases. The research of classic prescription (CP) is the hotspot in China which aims to develop the ancient and highly effective prescriptions into modern formulations under the condition of ancient dosage. In order to clarify the effects of ancient and modern techniques on WDD in the research of CP, the compounds in WDD should be systematically studied first, and the issue whether there are significant differences on components even efficacy between different preparation processes has to be explored. Methods : In this study, ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry was employed to analyze the components of WDD rapidly in both positive and negative ion mode. The analysis methods of chemometric, such as partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), was innovatively adopted to compare three typical processes (ancient decoction process, modern decoction process and modern alcohol precipitation process). Results : The 121 compounds were identified in WDD, including 23 organic acids, 69 flavonoids, 4 amino acids, 5 phenylpropanoids, 6 triterpenoid saponins and 14 other components, and most of them were from Zhishi (Immature orange fruit), Chenpi (Dried tangerine peel) and Gancao (Liquorice root). Additionally, significant differences between three processes were proved in this study, and 24 components were considered to be related to the differences between ancient and modern technology, as well as 18 compounds could be affected in the process of alcohol precipitation. The relative content of compounds in modern decoction process was higher than that in ancient decoction process, indicating the extraction efficiency of modern technology was greater than that of ancient process. Conclusion : The chemical profiling of WDD provided the bases for the study of active components and quality control. The obvious differences among three processes suggested that the content of active ingredients in the study of CP should be strictly controlled to ensure the transfer of significant efficacy from ancient prescriptions to modern formulations.