Screening of bioactive components from traditional Chinese medicines using cell membrane chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry

IntroductionCell membrane chromatography (CMC), as a highly selective type of affinity chromatography, has been demonstrated as an effective method to screen bioactive components acting on specific receptor from a complicated biological system. ObjectiveTo review the recent research progress and the technical applications of these analytical methods using CMC combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS). MethodologyIn this review, we briefly introduce the CMC offline GC/MS, CMC online GC/MS, CMC offline LC/MS, and CMC online LC/MS system. And the practical application of these technologies is also enumerated. Then the future of these technologies and research methods were discussed. ResultsMany bioactive components interacting with specific receptors have been screened and identified in traditional Chinese medicines. ConclusionCMC technique has been combined with GC/MS and HPLC/MS and these combined systems have been successfully used to screen bioactive components acting on specific receptors from a complicated biological system. We briefly introduce the CMC offline GC/MS, CMC online GC/MS, CMC offline LC/MS, and CMC online LC/MS system. And the practical application of these technologies is also enumerated. The CMC technique has been combined with GC/MS and HPLC/MS and these combined systems have been successfully used to screen bioactive components acting on specific receptors from a complicated biological system.