Separation of tanshinones from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge by high-speed counter-current chromatography using stepwise elution

Efficient Separation of Four Antibacterial Diterpenes from the Roots of Salvia Prattii Using Non-Aqueous Hydrophilic Solid-Phase Extraction Followed by Preparative High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

An efficient preparative procedure for the separation of four antibacterial diterpenes from a Salvia prattii crude diterpenes-rich sample was developed. Firstly, the XION hydrophilic stationary phase was chosen to separate the antibacterial crude diterpenes-rich sample (18.0 g) into three fractions with a recovery of 46.1%. Then, the antibacterial fractions I (200 mg), II (200 mg), and III (150 g) were separated by the Megress C18 preparative column, and compounds tanshinone IIA (80.0 mg), salvinolone (62.0 mg), cryptotanshinone (70.0 mg), and ferruginol (68.0 mg) were produced with purities greater than 98%. The procedure achieved large-scale preparation of the four diterpenes with high purity, and it could act as a reference for the efficient preparation of active diterpenes from other plant extracts.

Integrating transcriptomics and proteomics to show that tanshinone IIA suppresses cell growth by blocking glucose metabolism in gastric cancer cells

Background

Tanshinone IIA (TIIA) is a diterpene quinone extracted from the plant Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) used in traditional Chinese herbal medicine. It has been reported to have anti-tumor potential against several kinds of cancer, including gastric cancer. In most solid tumors, a metabolic switch to glucose is a hallmark of cancer cells, which do this to provide nutrients for cell proliferation. However, the mechanism associated with glucose metabolism by which TIIA acts on gastric cancer cells remains to be elucidated.

Results

We found that TIIA treatment is able to significantly inhibit cell growth and the proliferation of gastric cancer in a dose-dependent manner. Using next-generation sequencing-based RNA-seq transcriptomics and quantitative proteomics-isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ), we characterized the mechanism of TIIA regulation in gastric cancer cell line AGS. In total, 16,603 unique transcripts and 102 proteins were identified. After enrichment analysis, we found that TIIA regulated genes are involved in carbohydrate metabolism, the cell cycle, apoptosis, DNA damage and cytoskeleton reorganization. Our proteomics data revealed the downregulation of intracellular ATP levels, glucose-6-phosphate isomerase and L-lactate dehydrogenase B chains by TIIA, which might work with disorders of glucose metabolism and extracellular lactate levels to suppress cell proliferation. The up-regulation of p53 and down-regulation of AKT was shown in TIIA- treated cells, which indicates the transformation of oncogenes. Severe DNA damage, cell cycle arrest at the G₂/M transition and apoptosis with cytoskeleton reorganization were detected in TIIA-treated gastric cancer cells.

Conclusions

Combining transcriptomics and proteomics results, we propose that TIIA treatment could lead cell stresses, including nutrient deficiency and DNA damage, by inhibiting the glucose metabolism of cancer cells. This study provides an insight into how the TIIA regulatory metabolism in gastric cancer cells suppresses cell growth, and may help improve the development of cancer therapy.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1230-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Studies on the active constituents in radix salviae miltiorrhizae and their protective effects on cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury and its mechanism

BACKGROUND

To extract, purify and identify the active constituents in ethanol extract of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, and to analyze the protective effects of tanshinone IIA on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae was extracted by ultrasonic extraction, effective parts were extracted by extraction method, compounds were isolated by preparative TLC and preparative HPLC, and structures of compounds were identified by (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR; the effects of tanshinone IIA on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats were determined by establishing rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO).

RESULTS

The experimental data show four compounds were isolated, namely tanshinone IIB, hydroxymethylene tanshinone, salvianolic acid B and 9"'-methyl lithospermate B. Tanshinone IIA could alleviate the symptoms of neurological deficit in rats, the neurological deficit alleviating effect became more obvious with the increase of dose; tanshinone IIA experimental groups could reduce the cerebral infarction size and brain water content in rats, different concentrations of tanshinone IIA could decrease the SOD content and increase the MDA content in the frontal and parietal cortices of ischemic hemisphere in the ischemia reperfusion group, the differences were statistically significant compared with the ischemia reperfusion group.

CONCLUSION

Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae has the protective effects on cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury in rats.

Counter-current chromatography for the separation of terpenoids: a comprehensive review with respect to the solvent systems employed

Natural products extracts are commonly highly complex mixtures of active compounds and consequently their purification becomes a particularly challenging task. The development of a purification protocol to extract a single active component from the many hundreds that are often present in the mixture is something that can take months or even years to achieve, thus it is important for the natural product chemist to have, at their disposal, a broad range of diverse purification techniques. Counter-current chromatography (CCC) is one such separation technique utilising two immiscible phases, one as the stationary phase (retained in a spinning coil by centrifugal forces) and the second as the mobile phase. The method benefits from a number of advantages when compared with the more traditional liquid-solid separation methods, such as no irreversible adsorption, total recovery of the injected sample, minimal tailing of peaks, low risk of sample denaturation, the ability to accept particulates, and a low solvent consumption. The selection of an appropriate two-phase solvent system is critical to the running of CCC since this is both the mobile and the stationary phase of the system. However, this is also by far the most time consuming aspect of the technique and the one that most inhibits its general take-up. In recent years, numerous natural product purifications have been published using CCC from almost every country across the globe. Many of these papers are devoted to terpenoids-one of the most diverse groups. Naturally occurring terpenoids provide opportunities to discover new drugs but many of them are available at very low levels in nature and a huge number of them still remain unexplored. The collective knowledge on performing successful CCC separations of terpenoids has been gathered and reviewed by the authors, in order to create a comprehensive document that will be of great assistance in performing future purifications.

Conical coils counter-current chromatography for preparative isolation and purification of tanshinones from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge

Modern counter-current chromatography (CCC) originated from the helical coil planet centrifuge. Recently, spiral coils were found to possess higher separation efficiency in both the retention of stationary phase and solutes resolution than other CCC coils like the helical and toroidal coils used on type-J CCC and cross-axis CCC. In this work, we built a novel conical coil CCC for the preparative isolation and purification of tanshinones from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. The conical coils were wound on three identical upright tapered holders in head-to-tail and left-handed direction and connected in series. Compared with helical and spiral coil CCC, conical coil CCC not only placed CCC column in a two-dimensional centrifugal field, but also provided a potential centrifugal force gradient both in axial and radial directions. The extra centrifugal gradient made mobile phase move faster and enabled CCC much higher retention of stationary phase and better resolution. As a result, higher efficiency has been obtained with the solvent system of hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (HEMWat) with the volume ratio of 5:5:7:3 by using conical coil CCC apparatus. Four tanshinones, including cryptotanshinone (1), tanshinone I (2), 1,2-dihydrotanshinquinone (3) and tanshinone IIA (4), were well resolved from 500mg to 1g crude samples with high purity. Furthermore, the conical coil CCC can make a much higher solid phase retention, which makes it to be a powerful separation tool with high throughput. This is the first report about conical coil CCC for separation of tanshinones and it may also be an important advancement for natural products isolation.

Tanshinones: sources, pharmacokinetics and anti-cancer activities

Tanshinones are a class of abietane diterpene compound isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen or Tanshen in Chinese), a well-known herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Since they were first identified in the 1930s, more than 40 lipophilic tanshinones and structurally related compounds have been isolated from Danshen. In recent decades, numerous studies have been conducted to investigate the isolation, identification, synthesis and pharmacology of tanshinones. In addition to the well-studied cardiovascular activities, tanshinones have been investigated more recently for their anti-cancer activities in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we update the herbal and alternative sources of tanshinones, and the pharmacokinetics of selected tanshinones. We discuss anti-cancer properties and identify critical issues for future research. Whereas previous studies have suggested anti-cancer potential of tanshinones affecting multiple cellular processes and molecular targets in cell culture models, data from in vivo potency assessment experiments in preclinical models vary greatly due to lack of uniformity of solvent vehicles and routes of administration. Chemical modifications and novel formulations had been made to address the poor oral bioavailability of tanshinones. So far, human clinical trials have been far from ideal in their design and execution for the purpose of supporting an anti-cancer indication of tanshinones.

Modeling gradient elution in countercurrent chromatography: efficient separation of tanshinones from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge

Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) is a support-free liquid-liquid chromatography using centrifugal fields to hold the liquid stationary phase. CCC has been widely applied in the separation of various natural and synthetic components using a variety of biphasic liquid systems. The related hexane or heptane/ethyl acetate/methanol or ethanol/water biphasic liquid systems demonstrated their significance in CCC. Gradient is difficult in CCC since any composition change in one phase induces a composition change of the other phase to maintain phase equilibrium. This work provides a new insight into linear gradient elution in CCC that is feasible with some biphasic liquid systems such as selected compositions of the hexane/ethyl acetate/ethanol/water systems. The equations modeling solute motion inside the CCC column are proposed. Particular compositions of the liquid system, namely the hexane/ethyl acetate/ethanol/water 8:2:E:W compositions with E + W = 10, were studied from W = 1 to 9. They showed moderate changes in the upper organic phase compositions. The model is tested with the separation of tanshinones from the rhizome of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. Different linear solvent gradient profiles were experimentally performed between 8:2:5:5 and 8:2:3:7 compositions and the results were evaluated using the proposed model. Five tanshinones including dihydrotanshinone I, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I, 1,2-dihydrotanshinquinone, and tanshinone IIA have been successfully separated (>95% purities) using a gradient profile optimized by the developed model. The gradient model can be used only with biphasic liquid systems in which one phase shows minimum composition changes when the other phase composition changes notably. This case is not the general case for biphasic liquid systems but can be applied with specific compositions of the quaternary hexane or heptane/ethyl acetate/methanol or ethanol/water most useful CCC liquid systems.

Developments of instruments and methods related with high-speed countercurrent chromatography and their applications in research of natural medicines

High-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) is a liquid-liquid separation chromatographic technique which uses no solid supporting medium. During its rapid development in the last 30 years, great progress has been made in the instrumentation, the basic study and application of HSCCC. It has significant advantages over other instrumental separation techniques, in its high efficiency and continuous processing capability. In recent years, HSCCC has been widely used in research and development of natural medicines and functional foods, including preparative separation, fingerprint analysis and screening of bioactive constituents. A review of the technique is presented in this paper.

A novel protocol for the preparation of sodium tanshinone sulphonates by direct ultrasound-assisted sulphonation of the crude extract of the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge and following counter-current chromatography purification

INTRODUCTION

Sodium tanshinone sulphonates are water-soluble derivatives of tanshinones originated from Tanshen (or Danshen, Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge), a famous Traditional Chinese Medicine, which have potent biological activities, especially in the treatment of cardiovascular disorders. However, the classical preparation processes of sodium tanshinone sulphonates often involve multiple time- and solvent-consuming steps after purification of tanshinones, resulting in relatively low yields.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a simple protocol for direct preparation of sodium tanshinone sulphonates from the complex crude extract of the roots of S. miltiorrhiza without pre-purification of tanshinones.

METHODOLOGY

The 100 mg crude tanshinone extract of S. miltiorrhiza was first sulphonated in a ultrasound bath with glacial acetic acid, acetic anhydride and concentrated sulphuric acid for 20 min, and then subjected to counter-current chromatography (CCC) separation using a optimum two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane:ethylacetate:ethanol:5% sodium chloride aqueous solution (1:8:4:10, v/v). Based on the UV detection and HPLC analyses, the sulphonated fractions were collected.

RESULT

Sodium tanshinone IIA sulphonate (7.1 mg) and sodium tanshinone I sulphonate (2.8 mg) with over 95% purity were obtained successfully for the first time by ultrasound-assisted sulphonation and following CCC purification.

CONCLUSION

The study has shown that the method combining ultrasound-assisted sulphonation and CCC purification is an efficient way to prepare tanshinone sulphonates without pre-purification of tanshinones from the complex extracts of Tanshen, and can be explored as a new protocol for wide natural product modification directly from a crude complex extracts without pre-purification.

Development of a strategy and process parameters for a green process in counter-current chromatography: purification of tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge as a case study

A strategy for the development of a green process using counter-current chromatography technology is presented in this paper. The strategy began with solvent system selection, followed by linear scale-up from an analytical to a preparative process with optimized operating parameters. A two-stage separation using a multi-injection method was performed with a solvent system of hexane-dichloromethane-methanol-water (4:0.75:4:1) for the 1st stage and a hexane-ethanol-water (4:2:2) for the 2nd stage. A 191.8 mg of tanshinone IIA was purified, with a 97% purity and 34.4% recovery and a 276.7 mg of cryptotanshinone was separated, with a 95% purity and 31.8% recovery from 2.1g of crude extract. Process parameters (throughput, efficiency, environmental risk factor and general process evaluation) and mass factors (mass intensity, separation mass efficiency and greenness) of a target were developed for monitoring of the counter-current chromatography process.

Candidate genes involved in tanshinone biosynthesis in hairy roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza revealed by cDNA microarray

Salvia miltiorrhiza is a valuable Chinese herb (Danshen) that is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. Diterpene quinones, known as tanshinones, are the main bioactive components of S. miltiorrhiza; however, there is only limited information regarding the molecular mechanisms underlying secondary metabolism in this plant. We used cDNA microarray analysis to identify changes in the gene expression profile at different stages of hairy root development in S. miltiorrhiza. A total of 203 genes were singled out from 4,354 cDNA clones on the microarray, and 114 unique differentially expressed cDNA clones were identified: six genes differentially expressed in 45-day hairy root compared with 30-day hairy root; 96 genes differentially expressed in 60-day hairy root compared with 30-day hairy root; and 12 genes unstably expressed at different stages. Among the 96 genes differentially expressed in 60-day hairy root compared with 30-day hairy root, a total of 57 genes were up-regulated, and 26 genes represent 29 metabolism-related enzymes. Copalyl diphosphate synthase, which catalyzes the conversion of the universal diterpenoid precursor (E,E,E)-geranylgeranyl diphosphate to copalyl diphosphate, was up-regulated 6.63 fold, and another six genes involved in tanshinone biosynthesis and eight candidate P450 genes were also differentially expressed. These data provide new insights for further identification of the enzymes involved in tanshinone biosynthesis.

Solid-phase extraction of tanshinones from Salvia Miltiorrhiza Bunge using ionic liquid-modified silica sorbents

New ionic liquid-modified silica sorbents were developed by the surface chemical modification of the commercial silica using synthesized ionic liquids. The obtained ionic liquid-modified particles were successfully used as a special sorbent in solid-phase extraction process to isolation of cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I and tanshinone IIA from Salvia Miltiorrhiza Bunge. Different washing and elution solvents such as water, methanol and methanol-acetic acid (90/10, v/v) were evaluated. A comparison of ionic liquid-modified silica cartridges and traditional silica cartridge show that higher recovery was observed using ionic liquid-modified silica sorbents. A quantitative analysis was conducted by high-performance liquid chromatography using a C(18) column (5 microm, 150 mm x 4.6 mm) with methanol-water (78:22, v/v, and containing 0.5% acetic acid) as a mobile phase. Good linearity was obtained from 0.5 x 10(-4) to 0.5mg/mL (r(2)>0.999) with the relative standard deviations less than 4.8%.

In situ intestinal absorption behaviors of tanshinone IIA from its inclusion complex with hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin

In this paper, the intestinal permeability of the inclusion complex of tanshinone IIA (TS IIA) with 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD) was investigated. The corresponding complexation of TS IIA-HP-beta-CD was obtained by coevaporation and characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction. The recirculation intestinal perfusion technique in rats was used to study the absorption behavior of free and complexed TS IIA. The change of concentration of TS IIA was separately calculated according to Michaelis-Menten and the Fick's equation to investigate its absorption rate-limiting step. Using the mathematical models above, it was concluded that the limit step to absorption of TS IIA was the dissolution process. Different concentrations of complexed TS IIA were administrated to three intestinal segments, with the intestinal permeability ranging from 3.16x10(-5) cm.s(-1) in the duodenum (50 microg.ml(-1)) to 4.11x10(-5) cm.s(-1) in the jejunum (100 microg.ml(-1)). With the increase of dosage of complex, TS IIA's absorption did not show saturated phenomenon, suggesting its transport mechanism in vivo might primary be passive transport. Besides, the permeability of TS IIA was not apparently influenced by the perfusion section studied, which indicated that there might not exist specific absorption site for TS IIA.

Investigation of the improved effects of 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin on solubility, dissolution rate, and intestinal absorptive profile of tanshinone IIA in rats

In this paper, the effect of the chemically modified cyclodextrin [namely, 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin, (HP-beta-CD)] on the aqueous solubility, dissolution rate, and intestinal permeability of the tanshinone IIA (TS) was investigated. The corresponding inclusion complex of TS-HP-beta-CD at the molar ratio of 1:1 was obtained by coevaporation. The solubility of complexed TS in water at 37+/-0.1 centi-degree was 17 times greater than that for the uncomplexed drug. The dissolution rate of TS was significantly increased by the complexation with HP-beta-CD, due to its solubilizing activity. The everted intestinal sac technique in rats was used to study the absorption behavior studies of TS and this complexation through the intestinal tissues. The permeability rates of TS across the intestinal epithelial membrane were enhanced by the formation of inclusion complex with HP-beta-CD about 89, 97 and 82 times of the uncomplexed TS in duodenum, jejunum and ileum, respectively. It was revealed that the absorption rate-limiting step of TS might be the dissolution process. The present results indicated the potential use of HP-beta-CD to improve the gastrointestinal tract absorption of TS.

Complexation of tanshinone IIA with 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin: effect on aqueous solubility, dissolution rate, and intestinal absorption behavior in rats

In this paper, the effect of 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD) on the aqueous solubility, dissolution rate, and intestinal permeability of the tanshinone IIA (TS IIA) was investigated. The corresponding inclusion complex of TS IIA/HP-beta-CD at the molar ratio of 1:1 was obtained by coevaporation and characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction. The solubility of complexed TS IIA in water at 37+/-0.1 degrees C was 17 times greater than that for the uncomplexed drug. The dissolution rate of TS IIA was significantly increased by the complexation with HP-beta-CD, due to its solubilizing activity. The everted intestinal sac technique in rats was used to study the absorption behavior of TS IIA and this complexation through the intestinal tissues. The permeability rates of TS IIA across the intestinal epithelial membrane were enhanced by the formation of inclusion complex with HP-beta-CD about 5.2, 5.8 and 4.8 times of the uncomplexed TS IIA in duodenum, jejunum and ileum, respectively. It was revealed that the absorption rate-limiting step of TS IIA might be the dissolution process. The present results indicate the potential use of HP-beta-CD to improve the gastrointestinal tract absorption of TS IIA.

One-step separation and purification of 3,4-dihydroxyphenyllactic acid, salvianolic acid B and protocatechualdehyde from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge by high-speed counter-current chromatography

Three kinds of polyphenols of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, 3,4-dihydroxyphenyllactic acid, salvianolic acid B and protocatechualdehyde, were separated and purified in one step with solvent system n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-acetic acid-water (1:6:1.5:1.5:8) by high-speed counter-current chromatography. Acetic acid was successfully used to increase the partition of high polar target compounds in organic phase to modify partition coefficient value. 3,4-Dihydroxyphenyllactic acid, salvianolic acid B and protocatechualdehyde were purified from 100mg water extracted crude sample of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge at purity of 97.6%, 94.2% and 98.2% and at yield of 98.6%, 73.6% and 90.2%. High-speed counter-current chromatography together with organic/aqueous solvent system supplied an efficient method to purify water-soluble compounds directly from crude samples of traditional Chinese medicines.

Preparative isolation and purification of rupestonic acid from the Chinese medicinal plant Artemisia rupestris L. by high-speed counter-current chromatography

Rupestonic acid was purified for the first time by high-speed counter-current chromatography from a dichloromethane extract of the traditional Chinese medicinal plant Artemisia rupestris L. The separation was performed in two steps with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (6:4:3.5:6.5, v/v) with 0.5% acetic acid in stationary-phase. From 200 mg of the crude extract, 27.9 mg of rupestonic acid was obtained at over 98% purity as determined by HPLC analysis, and its chemical structure was confirmed by MS, 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance.

Salvia columbariae contains tanshinones

Salvia columbariae (chia) was examined and found to contain miltionone II, cryptotanshinone and tanshinone IIA. These compounds may be of interest in the treatment of stroke and heart attack.

Identification of major active constituents in the fingerprint of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge developed by high-speed counter-current chromatography

High-speed counter-current chromatography was applied as a method to develop fingerprinting of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, a popular traditional Chinese medicine, in our previous study. Important active constituents that were directly related to the therapy effect should be identified. Each effluent fraction and standard samples (cryptotanshinone, tanshinoneI and tanshinoneIIA) were analyzed by ultraviolet spectroscopy and liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy. It was concluded from the UV-Vis spectrograms, retention times in LC analysis and mass spectrograms, that fractions 7, 8 and 11 were respectively cryptotanshinone (Mr 296), tanshinone I (Mr 276) and tanshinone IIA (Mr 294).

Preparation and study on the inclusion complexes of two tanshinone compounds with beta-cyclodextrin

Solid inclusion complexes of two tanshinones (Tans): tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA), tanshinone I (Tan I) with beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) were synthesized by coprecipitation method. The solid inclusion complexes were characterized by using several analytical techniques: (1)H NMR spectra, IR spectra and thermal analysis. Stoichiometry of the inclusion complexes of Tans with beta-CD or HP-beta-CD is 1:1 which was investigated in solution. The formation constants of the complexes were determined by UV spectrophotometry. For same kind of CD, the stability was in the order: Tan IIA > Tan I; for same guest, the stability was in the order: HP-beta-CD > beta-CD. The effect of temperature on the inclusion interaction was examined and the thermodynamic parameters of inclusion process, Delta G, Delta H, Delta S were determined as well. The experimental results indicate that the inclusion process was an exothermic and enthalpy-driven process accompanied with a negative entropic contribution. The inclusion interaction between CD and Tans satisfied the law of enthalpy-entropy compensation.

Fingerprinting of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge by non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis compared with high-speed counter-current chromatography

The component of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can be influenced by soil, climate, and growth stage, and fingerprint is an important means in its quality control. Our previous studies showed that high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was helpful in the development of fingerprint of TCM. Since the HSCCC method is new, it is necessary to compare it with conventional ones, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE). Comparison with HPLC was conducted in our previous study. In this study, HSCCC was compared with non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE). With NACE, seven stable components were separated within 55 min, respectively, from three crude samples of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge from different growth locations. In HSCCC separation, 12 components were separated, respectively, with good correspondence and precision within 13 h. Both NACE and HSCCC were effective in showing whole concentration distribution of all kinds of constituents. Principles of these two methods were very different, which led to different elution sequences and relative contents of peaks. HSCCC showed better performance in analysis of tanshinones, which made its fingerprint containing more chemical information than that of NACE. It was further proven that HSCCC could be a feasible and cost-effective method in the development of the fingerprint of TCM.

Comparison of high-speed counter-current chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography on fingerprinting of Chinese traditional medicine

Active constituents of Chinese traditional medicine (CTM) are influenced by soils, climates, and growth stages. Therefore, fingerprint is important in quality control of CTM. Our studies showed for the first time that high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) could be applied in the development of fingerprint of CTM. Twelve components were separated from extracts of three crude samples of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, which were collected from different growth locations. All 12 components of each sample were isolated within 13 h coming with good correspondence by using HSCCC. Relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) values of the retention time in HSCCC separation was less than 3% satisfied the precision requirements of national standards in the fingerprint development. As a new approach, HSCCC was compared to the conventional approach-HPLC in our experiments. The fingerprint developed by HPLC comprised 11 peaks that collected within 45 min. R.S.D. values of retention times of the corresponding peaks in HPLC analysis were very small (maximum 0.66% and average 0.10%). In conclusion, HSCCC was a feasible method to be used in the development of fingerprint of CTM.

Isolation and purification of honokiol and magnolol from cortex Magnoliae officinalis by high-speed counter-current chromatography

High-speed counter-current chromatography was used to isolate and purify honokiol and magnolol from cortex Magnoliae Officinalis (Magnolia officinalis Rehd. et Wils.), a plant used in the traditional Chinese medicine. A crude sample, 150 mg, was successfully separated with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (1:0.4:1:0.4, v/v), and the fractions were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The separation produced 80 and 45 mg of honokiol and magnolol with purities of 99.2 and 98.2%, respectively, in 2.5 h.

Studies on the spectroscopic behavior of cryptotanshinone, tanshinone IIA, and tanshinone I

A comparative study on the spectroscopic behavior of cryptotanshinone (CTan), tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA), and tanshinone I (Tan I) has been investigated, including UV-Vis absorption, low temperature phosphorescence (LTP), low temperature fluorescence (LTF), paper substrate-room temperature phosphorescence (PS-RTP), paper substrate-room temperature fluorescence (PS-RTF) and fluorescence in liquid (LF). The effect of pH on the luminescence intensity is discussed. Lifetime and polarization of the LTP and RTP have been examined with phosphorescence lifetime in the range of 0.6-0.9s and polarization in the range of 0.10-0.27. Analytical characteristics of LF, PS-RTF and PS-RTP of CTan, Tan IIA, and Tan I have been studied.

Separation of tanshinones from Salvia miltiorrhiza bunge by multidimensional counter-current chromatography

Analytical and preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was successfully used for the isolation and purification of tanshinones from the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. Using multidimensional HSCCC, four major components including tanshinone IIA (16 mg), tanshinone I (10 mg), dihydrotanshinone I (7 mg) and cryptotanshinone (11 mg) were isolated each at high purity of over 95%.

Preparative isolation and purification of salvianolic acid B from the Chinese medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza by high-speed counter-current chromatography

High-speed counter-current chromatography was applied to the isolation and purification of salvianolic acid B from the Chinese medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. The crude salvianolic acid B was obtained by extraction with ethanol-water from S. miltiorrhiza Bunge. Preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-ethanol-water (3:7:1:9, v/v) was successfully performed yielding 342 mg salvianolic acid B at 98% purity from 500 mg of the crude extract in a one-step separation.

Preparative isolation and purification of salidroside from the Chinese medicinal plant Rhodiola sachalinensis by high-speed counter-current chromatography

High-speed counter-current chromatography was applied to the isolation and purification of salidroside from the Chinese medicinal plant Rhodiola sachalinensis A. Bor. The crude salidroside was obtained by extraction with methanol from Rhodiola sachalinensis A. Bor. Preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-butanol-ethyl acetate-water (2:3:5, v/v) was successfully performed yielding salidroside (32 mg) at 98% purity from 250 mg of the crude extract in a one-step separation.

Preparative isolation and purification of six diterpenoids from the Chinese medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza by high-speed counter-current chromatography

A high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) method was developed for the preparative separation and purification of six diterpenoids. dihydrotanshinone I, cryptotanshinone, methylenetanshiquinone, tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and danshenxinkun B from the Chinese medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. The crude diterpenoids were obtained by extraction with ethanol-n-hexane (1:1, v/v) from S. miltiorrhiza Bunge. Preparative HSCCC with the two-phase solvent systems A composed of n-hexane-ethanol-water (10:5.5:4.5, v/v) and B composed of n-hexane-ethanol-water (10:7:3, v/v) was successfully performed in a stepwise elution yielding six relatively pure diterpenoids from 300 mg of the crude extract in a single run. The purities of dihydrotanshinone I, cryptotanshinone, methylenetanshiquinone, tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and danshenxinkun B were 88.1, 98.8, 97.6, 93.5, 96.8 and 94.3%, respectively.