Abstract:

Ginkgo biloba seeds have been used as a traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years to treatdiseases such as cervicitis, cough, asthma and other lung diseases. As a novel form, the dispensinggranules (GSDG) of Ginkgo biloba seeds have been widely employed in clinic. However, itschemical profiling is not yet clear, which has restricted in-depth research in many fields.

In this study, a high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quardrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry method was used for the component characteration with the help ofaccurate molecular weights, fragmentation pathways, reported data, literatures and even somereference standards. Furthermore, in multiple-reaction monitoring mode, a high performanceliquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometry method wasdeveloped and applied for simultaneous determination of the bioactive phytochemicals.

As a result, a total of 56 components in GSDG were identified including 12 amino acids, 9organic acids, 6 nucleosides and nucleobases, 6 flavonoids, 5 vitamins, 5 terpenoid lactones, 4carbohydrates and 9 other compounds As for quantitative analysis, glutamic acid, asparatic acidhistidine, ginkgolide A, ginkgolide B, ginkgolide C, ginkgolide J, eucomic acid, N-(N-glucopyranosyl)-indoleacetylaspartate and N-(N-glucopyranosyl)-indoleacetylglutamate were selected asthe analytes for quanlity marker of GSDG. After necessary validation tests, the developed quantitative method was successfully put into use for 10 batches of GSDG. In all batches, N-(N-glucopyranosyl)-indoleacetylaspartate was the richest phytochemical with the amount of 17.3-25.7mg/g while ginkgolide J (0.0197-0.0335 mg/g) was determined to be the poorest.

The study is supposed to exhibit a comprehensive chemical profiling and to provide somestrong basis for preparation technology, quality control and even for action mechanism of GSDGthis novel form of Chinese medicine.