Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), especially herbal medicine compound preparation, faces great challenges in its quality control due to a myriad of components involved. How to perform quality control of TCM more effectively has been a research topic. In this study, we used Tianmeng oral liquid (TOL) as a case study and developed a comprehensive strategy based on non-targeted, targeted and bioactive analyses for quality evaluation of TOL from different batches. Firstly, a non-targeted fingerprinting analysis was performed by HPLC-DAD and UHPLC-MS/MS. Twenty-five batches of TOL were clearly discriminated by similarity analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis and components were tentatively identified. Secondly, the targeted quantitative methods based on HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS were applied to simultaneous quantitative determination of five and eight marker compounds, especially toxic component strychnine, respectively. The quantitative data were processed with principal component analysis for differentiating different batches of samples. Finally, we explored the feasibility of establishing a total antioxidant capacity (TAC) model. How to use the peak area instead of the corresponding concentration to determine the antioxidant activity-related compounds was theoretically explained for the first time, which was of great significance for the study of the fingerprint-efficacy relationship. The orthogonal signal correction-partial least squares model was employed to predict the TAC of TOL from their chromatographic fingerprints and identify three potential antioxidant markers. These results demonstrated that the comprehensive strategy from fingerprinting, chemical composition, multiple-component quantification, and antioxidant activity could be applied to quality evaluation of TOL and discrimination of the expired and unexpired samples.

中文翻译：

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基于非针对性，针对性和生物活性分析的中药综合质量评估策略：以天梦口服液为例。

由于涉及的成分众多，中药（TCM），尤其是草药复方制剂在质量控制方面面临巨大挑战。如何更有效地进行中药质量控制已成为研究的课题。在这项研究中，我们以天梦口服液（TOL）为案例，并基于非目标，目标和生物活性分析开发了一种综合策略，用于不同批次TOL的质量评估。首先，通过HPLC-DAD和UHPLC-MS / MS进行非目标指纹分析。通过相似性分析和层次聚类分析清楚地区分了25批TOL，并初步确定了成分。其次，采用基于HPLC-DAD和HPLC-MS的有针对性的定量方法，同时定量测定了5种和8种标记化合物，特别是有毒成分士的宁。使用主成分分析处理定量数据以区分不同批次的样品。最后，我们探讨了建立总抗氧化剂容量（TAC）模型的可行性。首次从理论上解释了如何使用峰面积而不是相应的浓度来确定与抗氧化活性相关的化合物，这对于研究指纹与药效关系具有重要意义。采用正交信号校正-偏最小二乘模型从其色谱指纹图谱预测TOL的TAC，并鉴定出三种潜在的抗氧化剂标记。这些结果表明，从指纹图谱，化学成分，多组分定量和抗氧化活性的综合策略可用于TOL的质量评估以及过期和未过期样品的鉴别。