LGQHD Herbal Formulation Identification and Characterization

LGQHD is composed of Poria cocos Schw Wolf (Poria coco, 茯苓) 20 g, Cinnamomum cassia Presl (Cassia twig, 桂枝) 15 g, Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz (Atractylodes macrocephala, 白术) 10 g, Paeonia lactiflora Pall., and P. veitchii Lynch (Radices paeoniae rubra, 赤芍) 10 g. They are, respectively, derived from the dried mycorrhizal nucleus of Poria coco, the dried shoots of Cassia twig, the dried rhizome of Atractylodes macrocephala, and the dried roots of Radices paeoniae rubra. All herbs are purchased by Hebei Bai Cao Kang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The preparation process consists of the traditional process of water extraction and volatile oil of the tablets to make β-CD inclusions in a ratio of about 1 : 4, and the aqueous solution is concentrated into an infusion. It was prepared as an extract at a concentration of 2.28 g of raw drug/g, which was provided by the Department of Pharmaceutics at Xiyuan hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medicine. Sacubitril Valsartan Sodium Tablets (trade name: Entresto) were manufactured by Novartis Pharma Schweiz AG with the (approval number H20170344, Switzerland) with the specification of 50 mg/tablet.
Waters (USAXevo)'s G2-S QTOF, quadrupole time of flight high-resolution mass spectrometer, and ACQUITY UPLC H-Class, ultraperformance liquid chromatograph, were used. A guard column and an ACQUITY UPLC HSS T3 column (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.8 μm) were included in the column's setup.
The Traditional Chinese Medicine Preparation Department at Xiyuan hospital, Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, provides LGQHD Infusion. Precisely 90 ml of LGQHD extraction is taken, 5.5 ml of the 70% methanol solution is added, kept at room temperature for 30 minutes, and then it is filtered through a 0.22 μm filter membrane. The LGQHD extract test solution was then made and kept in the refrigerator at a temperature of −20°C. The proper amount of LGQHD extraction solution is taken, it is liquefied with 70% methanol, and the sample for analysis is injected. Chromatographic circumstances mobile phase: gradient elution of water (A)-acetonitrile (B) as described in Table 1. The column temperature was 40°C, the flow rate was 0.4 ml/min, and the injection volume was 2 μl. The ESI source, positive and negative ion scan, and scan range m/z: 50–1200 Da were the mass spectrometry conditions.
Data were acquired using Masslynx V4.1 software, and the resulting data were processed using Progenesis QI software and calibrated and peak aligned by peak detection and calibration processing algorithms, respectively. Meanwhile, the chemical formulae of the possible target compounds were imported into the software, and the following main components of the LGQHD were identified by qualitative analysis of the components through accurate molecular weight comparison.