Comprehensive chemical profiling and quantitative analysis of eth-nic Yi medicine Miao-Fu-Zhi-Tong granules using UHPLC-MS/MS

Developing analytical methods for the chemical components of natural medicines remains a challenge due to its di-versity and complexity. Miao-Fu-Zhi-Tong (MFZT) granules, an ethnic Yi herbal prescription, comprises 10 herbs and has been clinic-ally applied for gouty arthritis (GA) therapy. Herein, a series of chemical profiling strategies including in-house library matching, mo-lecular networking and MS/MS fragmentation behavior validation based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) were developed for qualitative analysis of MFZT granules. A total of 207 compounds were iden-tified or characterized in which several rare guanidines were discovered and profiled into alkyl substituted or cyclic subtypes. Moreover, network pharmacology analysis indicated that MFZT's anti-gout mechanism was mostly associated with the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-kappa B) signaling, nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like signaling and rheumatoid arthritis pathways, along with the synergistic effect of 84 potential active compounds. In addition, a quantitative analytical method was developed to simultaneously determine the 29 potential effective components. Among them, berberine, pellodendrine, 3-feruloylquinic acid, neoastilbin, isoacteos-ide and chlorogenic acid derivatives at higher concentrations were considered as the chemical markers for quality control. These find-ings provide a holistic chemical basis for MFZT granules and will support the development of effective analytical methods for the herbal formulas of natural medicines.