CRCU

Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2011, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (4): 562-565.

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Screening and Identifying of Nephrotoxic Compounds in Lithospermum erythrorhizon Using Live-cell Fluorescence Imaging and Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Tandem Mass Spectrometry

ZHAO Xiao-ping1,2, JIN Ye-cheng3, ZENG Xing4, ZHANG Bo-li1 and ZHANG Yu-feng3*   

  1. 1. Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, P. R. China;
    2. College of Preclinical Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, P. R. China;
    3. College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, P. R. China;
    4. Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, P. R. China
  • Received:2011-01-04 Revised:2011-02-23 Online:2011-07-25 Published:2011-06-29
  • Contact: ZHANG Yu-feng E-mail:zhangyf@zju.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    Supported by the National Key Scientific and Technological Project of China(No.2009ZX09502-012), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China(No.20090101110126) and the Zhejiang Province Science and Technology Plan Project, China(No.2008C23065).

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Abstract: In order to identify the potential nephrotoxic compounds in traditional Chinese medicine Lithospermum erythrorhizon, it was separated into serial fractions according to their polarities. An in vitro method was utilized to determine the nephrotoxicity of these fractions with the help of fluorescence image analysis. As a result, the primary fraction A05 and its secondary fractions C06―C09 and C12―C14 were found to have significant toxicity to LLC- PK1 cell line, as determined by the survive rate less than 20% after they were treated with these fractions. These potential nephrotoxic fractions were further analyzed by multistage and high resolution mass spectrometry. The main compounds in these fractions were tentatively identified to be acetylshikonin, isobutyrylshikonin, β,β′-dimethyla- cryloylshikonin, and isovalerylshikonin, which may bring nephrotoxicity.

Key words: Traditional Chinese medicine, Nephrotoxic compound, Liquid chromatography/ion-trap mass spectrometry(LC/IT-MS), Liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry(LC/TOF-MS), Lithospermum erythrorhizon