Hesi 2 probe

A Waters UPLC-MS/MS spectrometer equipped with a HESI-II probe was employed. The details of the setting were as previously described (Xu et al., 2018 (link)). The LC-MS system was controlled using Masslynx 4.1. Waters and data were collected and processed with the same software.

Plasma samples were collected at 30, 60, and 90 min after oral administration of QQXD decoction for 5 days. A system (Waters Corp., Milford, MA, United States) equipped with a HESI-II probe was used to identify the main components of QQXD, as previously reported (31 (link)). The positive and negative HESI-II voltages were set to 3.5 and –3.0 kV, respectively, and the vaporizer temperature was set to 400^°C. Both sheath gas and auxiliary gas are nitrogen, and collision gas is high-purity nitrogen. The mobile phase was composed of A (acetonitrile) and B (0.1% (v/v) formic acid aqueous solution). The HPLC elution conditions were optimized as follows: 0–5 min: 5–10% A; 5–12 min: 10–15% A; 12–20 min: 15–30% A; 20–30 min: 30–95% A; 30–32 min: 95% A; 32–32.1 min 95–5% A; and 32–36 min: 5% A. The flow rate and the column temperature were set to 0.35 ml/min and 35^°C, respectively. Data were collected and processed by Xcalibur 4.2 software (Waters Corp.).

A Waters UPLC-MS/MS spectrometer equipped with a HESI-II probe was used to identify the main composition of SFH formula. The details of the protocol were as previously described (Xu et al., 2018 (link)). Data were collected and analyzed by using the Waters Masslynx 4.1 system.