Identification of chemical constituents in the extract and rat serum from Ziziphus jujuba Mill. by HPLC-PDA-ESI-MSn

Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) has long been widely used for human consumption and medicinal purposes in China. It has been reported to possess several vital biological activities. However, the systematic study on the chemical constituents absorbed into plasma and their metabolites is still insufficient. A high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detector-electrospray ionization ion-mass spectrometry (HPLC-PDA-ESI-MSn) method was established to analyze the ethanol extract in Ziziphus jujuba Mill and the constituents absorbed into rat serum. In the present study, a dose of 10 ml/kg of ethanol extract of jujube, which is equivalent to 12.5g crude dried herb/kg, was orally administrated to rats. The main components were analyzed in the ethanol extract of Ziziphus jujuba Mill and the parent constituents and metabolites were studied in rat plasma samples after oral administration of the ethanol extract of jujube. D101 macroporous polystyrene resin was a good pretreatment method to obtain better separation and impurity removal effect. Twenty-two compounds were identified in the ethanol extract of Ziziphus jujuba Mill. Four parent compounds and four metabolites were detected in rat serum. Among them, seventeen compounds were reported for the first time.