Holistic quality evaluation of Qingwen Baidu Decoction and its anti-inflammatory effects

Abstract Ethnopharmacological relevance Qingwen Baidu Decoction (QBD), a famous traditional Chinese medicine prescription with heat-clearing and detoxifying efficacies, is widely used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. However, due to lack of holistic quality evaluation research, the further study on the detailed molecular mechanisms of action are still insufficient. Aim of the study: This study aimed to evaluate the overall quality of QBD and to explore the anti-inflammatory effects and associated intracellular signaling pathways. Materials and methods a comprehensive method of chemical fingerprint analysis and simultaneous multi-component quantification was firstly developed by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). Similarity analysis, principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis with heatmap were also applied to screen out the markers components in QBD samples. Moreover, its anti-inflammatory effects and mechanisms were further investigated by survival analysis, hematoxylin-eosin staining (H&E), neutrophil observation, quantitative real-time PCR analysis (qRT-PCR), Western blotting and confocal microscopy. Results Twenty-one characteristic peaks from 11 herbs were chemically identified in the chromatographic fingerprint. Fifteen quantitative markers from 11 herbs, such as baicalin, wogonoside, geniposidic acid, oxypaeoniflora and so on, were screened out with the aid of chemometrics to further quantitatively assess the quality of QBD. The results of survival analysis, H&E and neutrophil observation in zebrafish inflammatory models consistently showed that QBD exerts potent anti-inflammatory effects in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, QBD inhibited the activation of NF-κB and STAT3 signal pathways in LPS-induced zebrafish and RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Conclusion Collectively, our investigations firstly described the chemical profile of QBD and its possible mechanism of anti-inflammation, which provides a preferred strategy for monitoring the overall quality of QBD and supports its clinical application in treating inflammation-related diseases.