Optimization of Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Seven Hydrophilic and Four Lipophilic Bioactive Components in Three Salvia Species

Recent Applications of Capillary Electrophoresis in the Determination of Active Compounds in Medicinal Plants and Pharmaceutical Formulations

The present review summarizes scientific reports from between 2010 and 2019 on the use of capillary electrophoresis to quantify active constituents (i.e., phenolic compounds, coumarins, protoberberines, curcuminoids, iridoid glycosides, alkaloids, triterpene acids) in medicinal plants and herbal formulations. The present literature review is founded on PRISMA guidelines and selection criteria were formulated on the basis of PICOS (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Study type). The scrutiny reveals capillary electrophoresis with ultraviolet detection as the most frequently used capillary electromigration technique for the selective separation and quantification of bioactive compounds. For the purpose of improvement of resolution and sensitivity, other detection methods are used (including mass spectrometry), modifiers to the background electrolyte are introduced and different extraction as well as pre-concentration techniques are employed. In conclusion, capillary electrophoresis is a powerful tool and for given applications it is comparable to high performance liquid chromatography. Short time of execution, high efficiency, versatility in separation modes and low consumption of solvents and sample make capillary electrophoresis an attractive and eco-friendly alternative to more expensive methods for the quality control of drugs or raw plant material without any relevant decrease in sensitivity.

Identification of Salvia species using high-performance liquid chromatography combined with chemical pattern recognition analysis

Salvia miltiorrhiza, also known as Danshen, is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and hematological abnormalities. The root and rhizome of Salvia przewalskii and Salvia yunnanensis have been found as substitutes for Salvia miltiorrhiza in the market. In this study, the chemical information of 14 major compounds in Salvia miltiorrhiza and its substitutes were determined using a high-performance liquid chromatography method. Stepwise discriminant analysis was adopted to select the characteristic variables. Partial least squares discriminant and hierarchical cluster analysis were performed to classify Salvia miltiorrhiza and its substitutes. The results showed that all of the samples were correctly classified both in partial least squares discriminant analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis based on the four compounds (caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, salvianolic acid B, and salvianolic acid A). This method can not only distinguish Salvia miltiorrhiza and its substitutes, but also classify Salvia przewalskii and Salvia yunnanensis. The method can be applied for the quality assessment of Salvia miltiorrhiza and identification of unknown samples.

Overexpression of AtEDT1 promotes root elongation and affects medicinal secondary metabolite biosynthesis in roots of transgenic Salvia miltiorrhiza

Medicinal secondary metabolites (salvianolic acids and tanshinones) are valuable natural bioactive compounds in Salvia miltiorrhiza and have widespread applications. Improvement of medicinal secondary metabolite accumulation through biotechnology is necessary and urgent to satisfy their increasing demand. Herein, it was demonstrated that the overexpression of the transcription factor Arabidopsis thaliana-enhanced drought tolerance 1 (AtEDT1) could affect medicinal secondary metabolite accumulation. In this study, we observed that the transgenic lines significantly conferred drought tolerance phenotype. Meanwhile, we found that the overexpression of AtEDT1 promoted root elongation in S. miltiorrhiza. Interestingly, we also found that the overexpression of AtEDT1 determined the accumulation of salvianolic acids, such as rosmarinic acid, lithospermic acid, salvianolic acid B, and total salvianolic acids due to the induction of the expression levels of salvianolic acid biosynthetic genes. Conversely, S. miltiorrhiza plants overexpressing the AtEDT1 transgene showed a decrease in tanshinone synthesis. Our results demonstrated that the overexpression of AtEDT1 significantly increased the accumulation of salvianolic acids in S. miltiorrhiza. Further studies are required to better elucidate the functional role of AtEDT1 in the regulation of phytochemical compound synthesis.