Determination of six components in Gastrodia elata from different origins by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS

doi:10.5246/jcps.2026.06.039

Abstract

Abstract:

To establish arobust and reliable UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS–based method for the qualitative andquantitative determination of six active constituents in Gastrodiaelata Bl. from Yunnan, a well-recognizedgenuine medicinal herb, an ultrasound-assisted extraction and analyticalprocedure was developed and validated. Finely powdered samples of G. elata were extracted using 30% methanol under ultrasonic conditions,and the resulting extracts were analyzed by ultra-performance liquidchromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight massspectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS). Chromatographic separation was performed on anAtlantis T3 column (2.1 mm × 150 mm, 3 μm; Waters) using a gradient elutionprogram with 0.1% formic acid in water (A) and acetonitrile (B) as the mobilephases. The column temperature was maintained at 40 °C, with a flow rate of 0.5mL/min and an injectionvolume of 1 μL. Mass spectrometric detection was carried out in the negativeion mode using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Themethod was systematically validated by evaluating linearity, limits ofdetection and quantification, precision, accuracy (recovery), stability, and repeatability forgastrodin, parishin A, parishin B, parishin C, parishin E, and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde.The results demonstratedsatisfactory analytical performance for all six analytes. Excellent linearitywas achieved within the tested concentration ranges, withcorrelation coefficients (r) exceeding 0.999.Mean recoveries ranged from 96.83% to 104.6%, withrelative standard deviations (RSDs) between 0.25% and 3.65%. Intra- andinter-day precision values were within 0.15%–2.33%, while stability andrepeatability tests yielded RSDs of 1.00%–1.54% and 0.70%–1.78%, respectively. Furthermore,comparative analysis of samplescollected from Yunnan, Guizhou, and Anhui revealed that G. elata from Yunnan contained higher levelsof the six target constituents. Overall, the proposed method was accurate,reproducible, and practical, providing a dependableanalytical tool for the quality evaluation and quality control of G. elata.

Key words: Gastrodia, Hyperlipidemia, UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS, Content determination, Quality evaluation

Supporting:

Licang Zhang, Shufei Zhang, Weiwei Xie, Ye Yuan, Jingpu Xu, Yuqian Zhang, Deqiang Li. Determination of six components in Gastrodia elata from different origins by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS[J]. Journal of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2026, 35(6): 552-559.

Figures/Tables 5

Table 1. Mass spectrum conditions of six components in G. elata.

Table 2. Regression equations, correlation coefficients, linear ranges, LOD, and LOQ for the six constituents of G. elata.

Table 3. Recovery rates of six components in G. elata samples (n = 3).

Table 4. Contents of six components in G. elata samples (x ± s).

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