Identification of Xuanfei Baidu granule constituents by liquid chromatography–quadruple‐time‐of‐flight–mass spectrometry and its anti‐inflammatory active constituents using a lipopolysaccharide‐induced RAW264.7 cell model

Abstract The Xuanfei Baidu (XFBD) prescription, a traditional Chinese medicine prescription, has demonstrated significant anti‐inflammatory activities; however, the number of its reported constituents is limited, and its anti‐inflammatory constituents are unclear. In this study, the constituents of XFBD granule, a granule dosage of XFBD prescription, were thoroughly examined in vitro and in vivo using liquid chromatography–quadruple‐time‐of‐flight–mass spectrometry, and the anti‐inflammatory constituents were screened. A total of 214 constituents were identified from the XFBD granule, 62 of which were confirmed via comparison with reference standards. After intragastric administration of XFBD granule, 63 and 28 constituents were absorbed into the rat sera and lungs in prototype form, respectively. XFBD granule and XFBD‐containing serum were found to significantly reduce nitric oxide (NO) and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) secretion in lipopolysaccharide‐induced RAW264.7 cells. Five anti‐inflammatory constituents (verbasoside, scutellarin, luteolin, apigenin, and pogostone) were found to reduce the concentration of NO and IL‐6 in a dose‐dependent manner. Moreover, the combination of these five constituents could significantly reduce NO secretion even when the concentration of each constituent was two to three orders of magnitude lower than their individual minimum effective concentrations. Overall, this study provides a valuable reference for the discovery of effective constituents from the XFBD granule.