Disentangling the Complexity of a Hexa-Herbal Chinese Medicine Used for Inflammatory Skin Conditions—Predicting the Active Components by Combining LC-MS-Based Metabolite Profiles and in vitro Pharmacology

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of a hexa-herbal Chinese formula (HHCF) using spontaneously immortalized human epidermal keratinocytes (HaCaT) and to predict the active components by correlating the LC-MS-based metabolite profiles of the HHCF and its 12 varied formulae with their anti-inflammatory activity using partial least-squares regression analysis.Methods: The HHCF comprises the rootstock of Scutellaria baicalensis, Rheum tanguticum, Sophora flavescens, the root bark of Dictamnus dasycarpus, the bark of Phellodendron chinense, and the fruit of Kochia scoparia in equal proportions. Its 12 varied formulae were developed by uniform design with varied proportions of the component botanical drugs. The decoctions of the HHCF and its 12 varied formulae were profiled using liquid chromatography (LC) combined with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS) and their effects on tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α -plus-interferon (IFN)-γ-induced C-C motif chemokine ligand 17 (CCL17) production in HaCaT were investigated. Partial least-squares regression analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between the LC-MS-based metabolite profiles of the decoctions to anti-CCL17 production in HaCaT.Results: Compounds with potential to promote anti-CCL17 production in HaCaT were identified (e.g., berberine, pyrogallol and catechin dimers) as a result of the developed model and their potential to act as anti-inflammatory agents were also supported by relevant literature.Conclusion: This promising approach should assist in the screening process of active components from complex Chinese herbal preparations and will better inform the necessary pharmacological experiments to take forward.

Berberine-Incorporated Shape Memory Fiber Applied as a Novel Surgical Suture

“…Inflammation is a doubleedged sword for health. It is helpful for the body in reasonable amounts (Chang et al, 2018). Meanwhile, it is easy to become detrimental when of excessive duration or high intensity on account of its tissue-damaging potential (Habtemariam, 2016).…”

Screening Immunoactive Compounds of Ganoderma lucidum Spores by Mass Spectrometry Molecular Networking Combined With in vivo Zebrafish Assays

“…Besides its applications in chemical identification, MS has been employed to screen active constituents from complex herbal medicines. Many strategies for active (constituents) identification based on MS have been proposed, which can be separated into two primary categories: the affinity ultrafiltration based strategies which directly detect target-ligand complexes or "free" ligands released from the noncovalent complexes (Chen et al, 2018); and the chemometrics based strategies which investigate the active constituents by correlating chemical profiles of herbal medicines to their bioactive effects (Chang et al, 2018). For example, Yang et al developed an ultrafiltration high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector and mass spectrometry (UF-HPLC-DAD-MS) method to screen tyrosinase inhibitors from mulberry leaves (Yang et al, 2012).…”

Genus Sophora: a comprehensive review on secondary chemical metabolites and their biological aspects from past achievements to future perspectives

“…Flavanones ( 19 ) and ( 23 ) exhibited potent antibacterial activities (10 µg/disk) against Gram-positive bacteria (Farhadi et al 2019 ). The phytoextract of S. alopecuroides roots and its content of pterocarpan derivative, maackiain ( 172 ) helped individuals with androgenetic alopecia as the derivative promoted the proliferation of human hair keratinocytes (Chang et al 2018 ; Wang et al 2018f ; Huh et al 2020 ).…”

“…Compound ( 28 ) is a noncompetitive potent inhibitor of tyrosinase, the enzyme responsible for synthesizing melanin, thereby has potential cosmetic applications as a skin whitener (Boozari et al 2019a , b ; Cho et al 2020 ). Decoction of an herbal Chinese formula comprises the S. flavescens rootstock, has been reported as a botanical remedy for treatment of skin inflammation (Chang et al 2018 ). ASa was clinically used for the treatment of chronic prostatitis and psoriasis (Aly et al 2019 ; Boozari et al 2019b ; Hadadi et al 2020 ).…”