With the expansion of herbal medicine (HM) market, the issue on how to apply up-to-date analytical tools on qualitative analysis of HMs to assure their quality, safety and efficacy has been arousing great attention. Due to its inherent characteristics of accurate mass measurements and multiple stages analysis, the integrated strategy of liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) and ion trap mass spectrometry (IT-MS) is well-suited to be performed as qualitative analysis tool in this field. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview on the potential of this integrated strategy, including the review of general features of LC-IT-MS and LC-TOF-MS, the advantages of their combination, the common procedures for structure elucidation, the potential of LC-hybrid-IT-TOF/MS and also the summary and discussion of the applications of the integrated strategy for HM qualitative analysis (2006-2011). The advantages and future developments of LC coupled with IT and TOF-MS are highlighted.

An offline two-dimensional system combining a rat cardiac muscle cell membrane chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CMC-TOF/MS) with a high performance liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-TOF/MS) was established for investigating the parent components and metabolites in rat urine samples after administration of the roots of Aconitum carmichaeli.On the basis of the analysis of the first dimension,retention components of the mine sample were collected into 30 fractions (one fraction per minute).Then offline analysis of the second dimension was carried out.34 compounds including 24 parent alkaloids and 10 potential metabolites were identified from the dosed rat urine,and then binding affinities of different compounds on cell membranes were compared and influences of some functional groups on activity were estimated with the semi-quantification and curve fitting method.As a result,binding affinities decreased along with the process of deacylation,debenzoylation and demethylation,which may be related to the alleviation of toxicity in the procedure of herb processing or metabolism.Moreover,some minor components in rat urine (Songorine,14-benzoylneoline,Deoxyaconitine,etc.) exerted relatively strong affinity on cell membranes are worth exploring.The results delivered by the system suggest that the CMC can be applied to in vivo study.

Apoptosis has been considered as the only form of regulated cell death for a long time. However, a novel form of programmed cell death called necroptosis was recently reported. The process of necroptosis is regulated and plays a critical role in the occurrence and development of multiple human diseases. Thus, the study on the molecular mechanism of necroptosis and its effective inhibitors has been an attractive field for researchers. Herein, we introduce the molecular mechanism of necroptosis and focus on the literature about necroptosis drug screening in recent years. In addition, the identification of the critical drug targets of the necroptosis is also discussed.

Objective To optimize the extraction process of the compound herba lysimachiae by orthogonal experiment and response surface method. Methods The sum of the peak areas of multiple representative components in the compound herba lysimachiae was used as the evaluation index. The ultrasonic extraction time, ultrasonic temperature and ethanol ratio were analyzed to optimize the extraction process conditions by orthogonal experiment and Box-Behnken response surface analysis method. Results Ultrasonic extraction time and ethanol ratio are important factors in the extraction process of the compound herba lysimachiae. The effect of ultrasonic temperature in the extraction process is not significant. The optimal extraction condition for compound herba lysimachiaeare is 10 min ultrasonic extraction time at 55 ℃ with 55% ethanol. Conclusion The optimal extraction process parameters obtained by combining orthogonal experiment and Box-Behnken response surface method can be used for the extraction of representative components from the compound herba lysimachiae and pharmaceutical research in the future.

Objective To optimize novel triazole antifungal compounds synthesis of key intermediates.Methods The or-thogonal experimental design is used,emphasizing on four factors including the reaction temperature,the weight ratio of mate-rial,reaction time and solvent on the yield.Results The effect of reaction temperature on the reaction yield is the most signifi-cant,followed by reaction time ;the weight ratio of material and solvent on the yield impact is not obvious.Conclusion The new technology has several advantages and yields up to about 50%,less reactive impurities,easy post processing.

Objective To screen potential active anti-cancer components of Brucea javanica.Methods This research has em-ployed comprehensive two dimensional chromatographic technology and cell membrane chromatographic technology simultaneously with mass spectrometry as detector .Results Adenosine and Bruceine B were found to be potentially anti-cancer active .Conclusion This study has combined the advantages of online , high speed and high throughput for the screen of potential active components of traditional Chinese medicine .

Objective To investigate the effects of the Pingan qushi prescription on traditional Chinese medicine syndrome,adverse events,and compliance in young and middle-aged hypertensive patients.Methods One hundred thirty-two young and middle-aged patients with hypertension were selected and randomly divided into two groups.After elimination,64 cases were included in each group.For 2 months,the control group was treated with irbesartan tablets,and the observation group underwent the Pingan qushi prescription based on the control group.The blood pressure,curative effect,traditional Chinese medicine syndrome score,safety,adverse events,and prognosis-related indicators were compared between the two groups.Results The total effective rate of the observation group(96.88%,92.19%)was higher than that of the control group(82.52%,78.13%),and the difference was statistically significant(P = 0.005,P = 0.025).After 1 and 2 months of treatment,the blood pressure,syndrome scores,ALD,PRA,AngⅡ,and ET-1 in the observation group were lower than those in the control group,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05).There was no sig-nificant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups(P>0.05).There was no statistically significant difference(P>0.05)in the incidence of adverse events during treatment between the observation group(1.56%)and control group(10.94%).Conclusion The treatment of young and middle-aged community patients with hypertension undergoing the Pingan qushi pre-scription can further improve patients'symptoms,increase blood pressure control,promote prognosis improvement.

Astragali Radix(AR)is a clinically used herbal medicine with multiple immunomodulatory activities that can strengthen the activity and cytotoxicity of natural killer(NK)cells.However,owing to the complexity of its composition,the specific active ingredients in AR that act on NK cells are not clear yet.Cell membrane chromatography(CMC)is mainly used to screen the active ingredients in a complex system of herbal medicines.In this study,a new comprehensive two-dimensional(2D)NK-92MI CMC/C18 column/time-of-flight mass spectrometry(TOFMS)system was established to screen for potential NK cell acti-vators.To obtain a higher column efficiency,3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane-modified silica was synthesized to prepare the NK-92MI CMC column.In total,nine components in AR were screened from this system,which could be washed out from the NK-92MI/CMC column after 10 min,and they showed good affinity for NK-92MI/CMC column.Two representative active compounds of AR,isoastragaloside Ⅰ and astragaloside Ⅳ,promoted the killing effect of NK cells on K562 cells in a dose-dependent manner.It can thus suggest that isoastragaloside Ⅰ and astragaloside Ⅳ are the main immunomodulatory compo-nents of AR.This comprehensive 2D NK-92MI CMC analytical system is a practical method for screening immune cell activators from other herbal medicines with immunomodulatory effects.

Therapeutic drug monitoring(TDM)has played an important role in clinical medicine for precise dosing.Currently,chromatographic technology and immunoassay detection are widely used in TDM and have met most of the needs of clinical drug therapy.However,some problems still exist in practical appli-cations,such as complicated operation and the influence of endogenous substances.Surface plasmon resonance(SPR)has been applied to detect the concentrations of small molecules,including pesticide residues in crops and antibiotics in milk,which indicates its potential for in vivo drug detection.In this study,a new SPR-based biosensor for detecting chloramphenicol(CAP)in blood samples was developed and validated using methodological verification,including precision,accuracy,matrix effect,and extraction recovery rate,and compared with the classic ultra-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet(UPLC-UV)method.The detection range of SPR was 0.1-50 ng/mL and the limit of detec-tion was 0.099±0.023 ng/mL,which was lower than that of UPLC-UV.The intra-day and inter-day ac-curacies of SPR were 98％-114％and 110％-122％,which met the analysis requirement.The results show that the SPR biosensor is identical to UPLC-UV in the detection of CAP in rat blood samples;moreover,the SPR biosensor has better sensitivity.Therefore,the present study shows that SPR technology can be used for the detection of small molecules in the blood samples and has the potential to become a method for therapeutic drug monitoring.

Objective To retrospectively evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of brentuximab vedotin(BV) combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of malignant lymphoma. Methods We collected the data of 32 lymphoma patients with CD30-positive status, including 14 cases of Hodgkin's lymphomas, 2 cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, and 16 cases of mature T/NK cell lymphomas. Chemotherapy combined with BV was administered to all patients for a minimum of two cycles. The efficacy of the treatment was evaluated according to Lugano criteria every two cycles. Results Complete response rate and overall response rate after four cycles of treatment were 22% and 50%, respectively. Sixteen cases (50.0%) had grades 1 and 2 toxicity, and 16 cases (50.0%) had grade 3 toxicity or higher. The most common adverse events were neutropenia (50.0%), pneumonia (46.9%), and anemia (43.8%). The most common grade 3 or higher adverse events were pneumonia (18.8%) and febrile neutropenia (12.5%). Four patients discontinued brentuximab vedotin because of severe adverse events. Conclusion BV is effective in treating relapsed and refractory CD30- positive Hodgkin's lymphoma and peripheral T-cell lymphoma, and its overall safety is acceptable.