Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 May 28;17(1):31-40.
doi: 10.1016/j.chmed.2024.04.005. eCollection 2025 Jan.

Mass spectrometry imaging for unearthing and validating quality markers in traditional Chinese medicines

Zhiyun Wang  1 , Huajie Chang  1 , Qian Zhao  2 , Wenfeng Gou  1 , Yiliang Li  1 , Zhengwei Tu  3 , Wenbin Hou  1
Affiliations
Review

Mass spectrometry imaging for unearthing and validating quality markers in traditional Chinese medicines

Zhiyun Wang et al. Chin Herb Med. .

Abstract

Quality marker (Q-Marker) is an innovative concept and model for quality control of Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), which will navigate the new direction of quality development of TCMs. Yet, how to characterize the overall quality attributes of TCMs and their biological effects is still debating. In view of this key scientific issue, this paper proposes a research method based on mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) technology for the discovery and confirmation of TCMs Q-Marker. MSI is powerful in investigating the spatial distribution of molecules in a variety of samples, and visualizing the information obtained from MS. On this basis, combine with the five principles of TCMs Q-Marker validation, i.e., specificity, transmission and traceability, testability, prescription compatibility, and validity, were applied to confirm the finalized Q-Marker. It will lead the new direction of quality development of TCMs.

Keywords: five principles; quality control; quality marker; traditional Chinese medicines.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Five principles for discovery and determination of Q-Marker in TCMs. Through the application of different experimental methods, we closely combined the five principles of TCMs Q-Marker discovery, namely validity, specificity, testability, prescription compatibility, transmission and traceability mining the Q-Marker of TCMs.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Processes and applications of MSI. After the samples were processed by different methods, the samples were analyzed by mass spectrometry and visual data through MSI (MALDI, DESI, SIMS).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Discovery of TCMs Q-Marker based on MSI technology. After drug is given to the body, we perform MSI for group of chemicals and endogenous substance group, respectively, and combine the “five principles” to confirm Q-Markers of TCMs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bai G., Hou Y.Y., Ding G.Y., Jiang M., Gao J., Zhang T.J., Liu C.X. A smart near-infrared spectroscopy evaluation system for quality management of Chinese medicinal materials based on quality markers. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica. 2019;54(2):197–203.
    1. Beck S., Stengel J. Mass spectrometric imaging of flavonoid glycosides and biflavonoids in Ginkgo biloba L. Phytochemistry. 2016;130:201–206. - PubMed
    1. Bishop D.P., Westerhausen M.T., Barthelemy F., Lockwood T., Cole N., Gibbs E.M.…Wanagat J. Quantitative immuno-mass spectrometry imaging of skeletal muscle dystrophin. Scientific Reports. 2021;11(1):1128. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Buchberger A.R., Delaney K., Johnson J., Li L. Mass spectrometry imaging: A review of emerging advancements and future insights. Analytical Chemistry. 2018;90(1):240–265. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cai L.S., Xia M.C., Li Z.P., Zhang S.C., Zhang X.C. Bioimaging by secondary ion mass spectrometry. Progress in Chemistry. 2021;33(1):97–110.

LinkOut - more resources