Systematic characterization of the chemical constituents in vitro and prototypes in vivo of Dingkun Dan by UPLC‐Q‐TOF/MS E combined with the UNIFI TM software

Dingkun Dan (DKD), a famous traditional Chinese medicine prescription since Qing Dynasty (1739), has been widely used in the treatment of irregular menstruation, leucorrhea abnormality and postpartum gynecological disease. It is comprised by 30 various types of herbal and animal orient medicine, which results in the complexity of its chemical compositions. In this study, an integrative method was established to rapidly characterize the chemical components of DKD by using UPLC-Q-TOF/MSE combined with the UNIFITM software. As a result, a total of 234 compounds were identified including 47 triterpenoid saponins, 55 flavonoids, 38 alkaloids and others. Among them, 170 compounds were characterized initially and 61 compounds were unambiguously identified by using standards. Under the same analysis conditions, 43 prototypical components, which were tentatively assigned as triterpenoid saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, phenylpropanoids and others, have been absorbed in rat by serum pharmacochemistry analysis. DKD has exerted the diverse pharmacological activities through the combined effect of these various components. This study was the first systematic study of chemical components in vitro originating from 30 medicinal materials and prototypes in vivo of DKD, which could provide a scientific evidence for explaining its therapeutic effect.