An online coupled peritoneal macrophage/cell membrane chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry method to screen for anti-inflammatory components from the Chinese traditional medicine Chloranthus multistachys Pei.

Cell membrane chromatography (CMC) is a chromatographic biological affinity method that uses specific cell membranes as the stationary phase. In this study, a novel peritoneal macrophage/cell membrane chromatography (PM/CMC)-online-high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) method was established to screen for the anti-inflammatory components from traditional Chinese medicines using hydrocortisone and dexamethasone as standards. The stationary phase of the CMC employed mouse peritoneal macrophage cell membranes. This method was applied to the purification and identification of components in extracts of Chloranthus multistachys Pei. The major component retained by CMC was identified as isofraxidin by HPLC/MS. In vitro experiments revealed that IF was able to inhibit the production of nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-α in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated mice and peritoneal macrophages in a dose-dependent manner. The results demonstrated that the PM/CMC-online-HPLC/MS is an effective screening system for the rapid detection, enrichment, and identification of target components from complex samples.