Hollow fiber cell fishing with high-performance liquid chromatography for rapid screening and analysis of an antitumor-active protoberberine alkaloid group from Coptis chinensis.

A novel hollow fiber cell fishing procedure with high-performance liquid chromatography (HFCF-HPLC) was developed and used for rapid screening, fishing, and analysis of bioactive compounds from traditional Chinese medicines. Human breast cancer cell MCF7, mouse breast cancer cell MADB106, and gastric cancer cell SGC7901 were seeded on the internal surface of hollow fibers that were used to screen, fish, and analyze an antitumor-active protoberberine alkaloid group from Coptis chinensis decoction. The main variables that affect the HFCF-HPLC process were investigated and optimized. The surface properties of the hollow fiber-seeded cells, cell survival rate, non-specific binding between active centers in the hollow fiber and the target compounds, repeatability, reliability, and recovery of HFCF-HPLC were investigated in detail. Several active compounds structures that were screened from Coptis chinensis by using HFCF-HPLC were identified by comparing the retention time of the reference substances. The cell membrane and cell organelle were separated from MCF7 cells for a preliminary study of the target effect of active compounds on MCF7 cells. The living cell, cell membrane, and cell organelle fishing factors of the active compound, as the indexes of drug binding ability in HFCF-HPLC, were defined and discussed. In addition, tamoxifen as positive control substance and indomethacin as negative control substance were screened by using HFCF-HPLC to further verify the method's reliability. The results demonstrated that HFCF-HPLC is an effective, rapid, stable, and reliable method to screen and analyze bioactive compounds.