An effective method for determining the ingredients of Shuanghuanglian formula in blood samples using high‐resolution LC–MS coupled with background subtraction and a multiple data processing approach

Shuanghuanglian formula ( SF ) is a combination of F los lonicerae japonicae , R adix scutellariae , and F ructus forsythiae , commonly used to treat viral or bacterial infections. However, the constituents absorbed into the blood after oral administration of SF are difficult to determine and thus remain unclear. Here, we report the application of an accurate background subtraction and multiple data processing approach ( B s‐ M pa) for the comprehensive detection of compounds of SF in vivo . A sensitive and reliable ultra‐performance LC coupled with ESI quadrupole TOF MS ( UPLC – ESI ‐ Q ‐ TOF ‐ MS ) approach coupled with B s‐ M pa, which is implemented in the S trip tool from UP LC to remove nonrelated ion signals from accurate mass LC – MS data, was established to characterize the chemical constituents and rat metabolites of SF . In the loading plot of the principal component analysis, 68 ions of interest were extracted from blood samples, among them, 39 absorbed prototype components of SF and 29 metabolites were identified in vivo . It is concluded that the integrative B s‐ M pa method can be successfully applied for the rapid discovery of multiple components from a traditional C hinese medicine. The above challenge was addressed by using the proposed B s‐ M pa method and it was particularly suitable for applying to the global characterization of the constituents or metabolites in rat blood after oral administration of other well‐known formulae.