Monitoring quality consistency of Ixeris sonchifolia (Bunge) Hance injection by integrating UV spectroscopic fingerprints, a multi-wavelength fusion fingerprint method, antioxidant activities and UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicines/herbal medicines (TCM/HM) are too complicated mixture systems to investigate their quality consistency effectively using a single detection technique. Hence, finding an integrated, rapid and effective quality control method is of great importance. In the present study, a novel strategy integrating ultra violet (UV) spectroscopic fingerprints and multi-wavelength fusion fingerprints has been proposed for quality consistency of the popular patent medicine Ixeris sonchifolia (Bge.) Hance Injection (ISHI). The quality grades of 28 batches of the ISHI samples were evaluated by the systematic quantitative fingerprint method (SQFM) from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. As a result, UV spectroscopic fingerprints agree well with multi-wavelength fusion fingerprints. In order to investigate the chemical components of the ISHI sample, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS) has been exploited in the negative ion mode, providing an important chemical structure foundation for further bioactivity and quality control studies. In addition, the orthogonal projection to latent structures (OPLS) was established to investigate the fingerprint-efficacy relationship between high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprints and antioxidant activities. These results indicate that integrating UV spectroscopic fingerprints and multi-wavelength fusion fingerprints coupled with antioxidant activities and UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS provide a rapid and effective approach to monitor the quality consistency of TCM/HM.