Anti-inflammatory bioactive equivalence of combinatorial components β-carboline alkaloids identified in Arenaria kansuensis by two-dimensional chromatography and solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid-liquid extraction enrichment technology

Abstract

Bioactive equivalent combinatorial components play a critical role in herbal medicines. However, how to discover and enrich them efficiently is a question for herbal pharmaceuticals researchers. In our work, a novel two-dimensional reversed-phase/hydrophilic interaction high-performance liquid chromatography method was established to perform real-time components trapping and combining for preparation and isolation of coeluting components. Arenaria kansuensis was taken as an example, and solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid-liquid extraction as a simple and efficient method for enriching trace components, reversed phase column coupled with hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography XAmide column as two-dimensional chromatography technology for isolation and preparation of coeluting constituents, enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay as bio-guided assay, and anti-inflammatory bioactivity evaluation for bioactive constituents. A combination of 12 β-carboline alkaloids was identified as anti-inflammatory bioactive equivalent combinatorial components from A. kansuensis, which accounts for 1.9% w/w of original A. kansuensis. This work answers the key question of which are real anti-inflammatory components from A. kansuensis and provides a fast and efficient approach for discovering and enriching trace β-carboline alkaloids from herbal medicines for the first time. More importantly, the discovery of bioactive equivalent combinatorial components could improve the quality control of herbal products and inspire a herbal medicine based on combinatorial therapeutics.

Arenaria kansuensis attenuates pulmonary fibrosis in mice via the activation of Nrf2 pathway and the inhibition of NF‐kB/TGF‐beta1/Smad2/3 pathway

“…As our previous study (Cui et al, 2017, 2019), A lot of monomeric compounds including β‐carboline alkaloids and flavonolignans have been isolated and identified. Among them, β‐carboline alkaloids have been identified as the main bioactive compounds (Cui et al, 2017) and the relative content of the total β‐carboline alkaloids is about 5%.…”

“…As our previous study (Cui et al, 2017, 2019), A lot of monomeric compounds including β‐carboline alkaloids and flavonolignans have been isolated and identified. Among them, β‐carboline alkaloids have been identified as the main bioactive compounds (Cui et al, 2017) and the relative content of the total β‐carboline alkaloids is about 5%. Therefore, In this work, four purified beta‐carboline alkaloids monomeric compounds including arenarine A, cordysinin C, arenarine D, arenarine B and one purified flavonolignan salcolin were used as reference substances to give a HPLC fingerprint spectrum of AE (Figure 1).…”

“…Modern pharmacological studies have shown that A. kansuensis has antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, immunomodulatory, bacteriostatic and antiviral effects (Li, Wu, & Chen, 2007). In our previous study, a fraction enriched in β‐carbolines compounds has been isolated from A. kansuensis for evaluating the potential bioactivity for fibrosis for the first time (Cui et al, 2017; Cui, Shao, Wang, Mei, & Tao, 2019), results showed that β‐carbolines compounds showed potential against pulmonary fibrosis in vitro experiment through supressing inflammation and oxidative stress, and the relative content of the total β‐carbolines in A. kansuensis is about 0.5%. However, the pharmaceutical effect of the whole herb on pulmonary fibrosis is a mystery and the exact molecular mechanism of A. kansuensis on pulmonary fibrosis is still unclear.…”

High‐performance liquid chromatography analysis of alkaloids in various parts of lotus extracts with ion mobility spectrometry and mass spectrometry dual detection

“…HPLC has the characteristics of simplicity, rapidity, and good reproducibility [23]. However, due to the structural diversity and complexity, it is common for more than one component coeluted from one single liquid chromatographic peak [24]. In recent years, the coupling technique of LC with other separation and detection method has enhanced the detection ability and sensitivity of alkaloids, which has been widely used for alkaloid analysis [25,26].…”

Preparative isolation of flavonoid glycosides from Sphaerophysa salsula using hydrophilic interaction solid‐phase extraction coupled with two‐dimensional preparative liquid chromatography

“…Two‐dimensional LC is a powerful tool for the separation of complex samples owing to great improvements in separation selectivity and peak capacity . Recent studies indicate that 2D HPLC is a practical method for the separation of polyphenol and anthocyanin in complex samples.…”