The pharmacological effects of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are closely associated with the processing procedures, which involve a multitude of intricate chemical reactions. Real-time monitoring of the dynamic changes in chemical constituents during TCM processing plays a pivotal role in ensuring quality control of TCM products. Herein, a neutral desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (ND-APCI-MS) method was developed for online monitoring of the TCM processing. The aerosol generated during the TCM processing was sampled in situ by neutral desorption using N₂, followed by online analysis using APCI-MS. Subsequently, orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was employed to analyze the MS data to find the biomarkers associated with the processing. Compared to traditional tissue-based analytical methods, the present method employing aerosols as samples takes advantage of online analysis, nondestructive sampling, and enhanced accuracy. As a conceptual application, the processing of Rehmannia glutinosa was investigated, and several biomarkers associated with the processing were identified. These findings suggest the potential application of ND-APCI-MS for online and in situ monitoring of the processing of TCM.

中文翻译：

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中性脱附常压化学电离质谱在线监测中药加工


中医 （TCM） 的药理作用与加工过程密切相关，加工过程涉及多种复杂的化学反应。实时监测中药加工过程中化学成分的动态变化对于确保中药产品的质量控制起着关键作用。在此，开发了一种中性解吸常压化学电离质谱 （ND-APCI-MS） 方法，用于中药加工的在线监测。使用 N₂ 通过中性解吸对 TCM 加工过程中产生的气溶胶进行原位采样，然后使用 APCI-MS 进行在线分析。随后，采用正交偏最小二乘判别分析 （OPLS-DA） 分析 MS 数据以找到与处理相关的生物标志物。与传统的基于组织的分析方法相比，目前采用气溶胶作为样品的方法利用了在线分析、无损采样和更高的准确性。作为概念应用，研究了 Rehmannia glutinosa 的加工，并确定了与加工相关的几种生物标志物。这些发现表明 ND-APCI-MS 可能应用于中医加工的在线和原位监测。