A Method for Simultaneous Determination of 14 Carbonyl-Steroid Hormones in Human Serum by Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Rapid chemical characterization and pharmacological mechanism of Fining Granules in the treatment of chronic bronchitis based on UHPLC-Q-exactive orbitrap mass spectrometer and network pharmacology

Background

Senecio cannabifolius Less. is a perennial herb belonging to the Compositae family that has been used in traditional medicine as an antitussive and expectorant for treating chronic bronchitis and acute respiratory infections. Traditionally, Feining Granules are prepared from water extracts of the raw plant material. However, the chemical composition and pharmacological mechanisms of Feining Granules have not been thoroughly investigated.

Methods

A systematic strategy for the rapid detection and identification of the constituents of Feining Granules was developed using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-exactive orbitrap mass spectrometry (MS) with parallel reaction monitoring.

Results

Overall, 162 compounds, including flavonoids, alkaloids, organic acids, and others, were identified unambiguously and tentatively by comparing the retention times and MS fragmentation with reference standards and literature data. Ninety-nine of these were reported for the first time to the best of our knowledge. Network pharmacology suggests that Feining Granules can be used to treat chronic bronchitis as they contain active components associated with the ALB, VEGFA, and SRC target genes influenced by HIF-1, VEGF, and other signaling pathways.

Conclusion

These results provide information that can help understand the effective substances of S. cannabifolius Less. and improve quality control.

Mass Spectrometry Based on Chemical Derivatization Has Brought Novel Discoveries to Lipidomics: A Comprehensive Review

Lipids, as one of the most important organic compounds in organisms, are important components of cells and participate in energy storage and signal transduction of living organisms. As a rapidly rising field, lipidomics research involves the identification and quantification of multiple classes of lipid molecules, as well as the structure, function, dynamics, and interactions of lipids in living organisms. Due to its inherent high selectivity and high sensitivity, mass spectrometry (MS) is the "gold standard" analysis technique for small molecules in biological samples. The combination chemical derivatization with MS detection is a unique strategy that could improve MS ionization efficiency, facilitate structure identification and quantitative analysis. Herein, this review discusses derivatization-based MS strategies for lipidomic analysis over the past decade and focuses on all the reported lipid categories, including fatty acids and modified fatty acids, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sterols and saccharolipids. The functional groups of lipids mainly involved in chemical derivatization include the C=C group, carboxyl group, hydroxyl group, amino group, carbonyl group. Furthermore, representative applications of these derivatization-based lipid profiling methods were summarized. Finally, challenges and countermeasures of lipid derivatization are mentioned and highlighted to guide future studies of derivatization-based MS strategy in lipidomics.

HPTLC+SRES screening of pesticide for point-of-care application as shown with thiram in juice

In this study, a HPTLC-platformed SERS detection was established for screening thiram in juice. After a simple extraction, the sample liquid was separated on HPTLC plates, which resulted in a specific zone for the analyte. Following infiltration with atomize water, the band of interest was easily scraped off and eluted. In parallel, a flexible and SERS-active substrate was fabricated by the in-situ synthesis of gold nanoparticles within cotton fabrics. Under optimized conditions, fingerprint-like signal at 1376 cm^-1 of the analyte were easily recorded by a hand-held Raman spectrometer with enough LOD (0.5 mg/L), LOQ (0.9 mg/L) and reproducibility (<11.7%). The optimized screening system was further validated with pear, apple and mango juice by determining the spike-and-recovery rates (75.6 to 112.8%). It was demonstrated that this method could be a facile point-of-care testing system tailored for pesticide screening.

GC-MS/MS Determination of Steroid Hormones in Urine Using Solid-Phase Derivatization as an Alternative to Conventional Methods

Solid-phase analytical derivatization (SPAD) is a promising hybrid sample preparation technique combining the clean-up and preconcentration of the sample in a single step. In this work, a novel SPAD method based on the preparation of trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatives of steroid hormones (testosterone, estrone, DHT, estriol, estradiol, and progesterone) in Phenomenex Strata C18-E (100 mg, 1 mL) cartridges has been developed and applied for their GC-MS/MS determination in human urine samples. The proposed procedure allows the detection and quantification of steroids with limits of 1.0–2.5 and 2.5–5 ng/mL, respectively. These characteristics are comparable with those obtained with a conventional liquid–liquid extraction, while the recovery of analytes in the proposed SPAD procedure is higher. The major advantages of SPAD are a short derivatization time, high efficiency, and the possibility to automatize the procedure. However, its cost-effectiveness in routine practice is still questionable.

Identification and Quantification of Chlorogenic Acids from the Root Bark of Acanthopanax gracilistylus by UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry

The purpose of this study is to identify and quantify the chlorogenic acids (CGAs) from the root bark of Acanthopanax gracilistylus, which is conventionally regarded as a tonic in folk Chinese Traditional medicine. The effective methods for identification and quantification analysis of CGAs were developed based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography-Q-exactive orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap MS) in parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) and selected reaction monitoring (SIM), which showed high sensitivity and resolution for screening and quantifying compounds. The root bark of A. gracilistylus was extracted under ultrasonication with 70% methanol. Ultimately, a for total of 70 CGAs, 64 of these were tentatively identified for the first time. Moreover, a methodological study of seven kinds of CGAs was carried out. The proposed procedure was optimized and validated in terms of selectivity, linearity of analytical curves (r ² > 0.990), accuracy (recovery range from 96.7 to 105%), and repeatability (relative standard deviation <5%). Then it was applied to determine the content of the CGAs in A. gracilistylus roots from 66 of different batches. The total CGAs was quantified in a range between 2.150 and 33.51 mg/g, which could be considered as excellent source of natural bioactive compound. The result was extremely useful for understanding the bioactive substance and quality control of A. gracilistylus in depth.

Chemical characterization of extracts of leaves of Kadsua coccinea (Lem.) A.C. Sm. by UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass spectrometry and assessment of their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities

Kadsua coccinea (K. coccinea) has long been used as a fruit and folk medicine; however, the composition of its leaves and the activities of its constituents have been seldom studied. A total of 98 chemical constituents, including 53 phenolic acids, 41 flavonoids, and 4 lignans, were identified from the plant of kadsua coccinea by UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass spectrometry. All these chemicals were reported for the first time in leaves, and 95 of them have been reported for the first time in the plant of kadsua coccinea. The biological potential of extracts of K. coccinea leaves (EKL) was evaluated by in vitro antioxidant assay and anti-inflammatory assay. EKL are composed of polysaccharides (60%), polyphenols (26%), and proteins (11%). EKL present decent potent •OH and DPPH scavenging abilities and Fe²⁺ chelating ability. They also inhibit the secretion of NO, reduce the level of Cox2 in proteins, inhibit the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-2 and IL-6, and promote the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. These results displayed significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of EKL, which will be very beneficial for further development and investigation of kadsua coccinea leaves.

Mass Spectrometry as a Crucial Analytical Basis for Omics Sciences

This review is devoted to the consideration of mass spectrometric platforms as applied to omics sciences. The most significant attention is paid to omics related to life sciences (genomics, proteomics, meta-bolomics, lipidomics, glycomics, plantomics, etc.). Mass spectrometric approaches to solving the problems of petroleomics, polymeromics, foodomics, humeomics, and exosomics, related to inorganic sciences, are also discussed. The review comparatively presents the advantages of various principles of separation and mass spectral techniques, complementary derivatization, used to obtain large arrays of various structural and quantitative information in the mentioned omics sciences.

Options of the Main Derivatization Approaches for Analytical ESI and MALDI Mass Spectrometry

The inclusion of preliminary chemical labeling (derivatization) in the analysis process by such powerful and widespread methods as electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) is a popular and widely used methodological approach. This is due to the need to remove some fundamental limitations inherent in these powerful analytic methods. Although a number of special reviews has been published discussing the utilization of derivatization approaches, the purpose of the present critical review is to comprehensively summarize, characterize and evaluate most of the previously developed and practically applied, as well as recently proposed representative derivatization reagents for ESI-MS and MALDI-MS platforms in their mostly sensitive positive ion mode and frequently hyphenated with separation techniques. The review is focused on the use of preliminary chemical labeling to facilitate the detection, identification, structure elucidation, quantification, profiling or MS imaging of compounds within complex matrices. Two main derivatization approaches, namely the introduction of permanent charge-fixed or highly proton affinitive residues into analytes are critically evaluated. In situ charge-generation, charge-switch and charge-transfer derivatizations are considered separately. The potential of using reactive matrices in MALDI-MS and chemical labeling in MS-based omics sciences is given.