Chinese Medicine Cistanche Chemical Composition And Analysis Of Components In The Body Ⅱ

Abbreviation

Cistanche has been regarded as a strong and nourishing precious traditional Chinese medicine since ancient times. It is known as "desert ginseng". It was first recorded in "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" and is listed as a top grade. It has the functions of nourishing kidney yang, replenishing essence and blood, moisturizing the intestines and defecating, and delaying aging. It is often used to treat male impotence, female infertility, cold and diarrhea, cold pain in the waist and knees, blood dryness, and constipation. The Cistanche recorded in Part 1 of the "Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2015 Edition)" is the dried fleshy stems with scaly leaves of Cistanche deserticola Y.C.Ma and Cistanche tubulosa (Schenk) R. Wight. Due to the confusion of Cistanche medicinal materials currently circulating in the market, most of the quality control of Cistanche only focuses on phenylethanoid glycosides. To better evaluate the quality of Cistanche and ensure the efficacy of medicinal materials and products, this article reviews the research progress of chemical composition analysis and in vivo composition analysis of Cistanche, to establish a more comprehensive and effective analysis method to make up for the current quality analysis and Shortcomings of in vivo studies.

Cistanche Supplement 

Section 1 Research progress in the analysis of chemical components of the traditional Chinese medicine Cistanche

The natural environment and regional conditions directly affect the quality of Chinese medicinal materials or preparations, and the quality of Chinese medicinal materials or preparations is closely related to the safety of clinical medication. Therefore, to improve the quality control level of Cistanche medicinal materials or preparations, it is particularly important to establish accurate, reliable, and rapid determination methods. In recent years, domestic and foreign scholars have done a lot of work on the analysis of chemical components of Cistanche, and have also tried a variety of analysis methods, including fingerprinting, colorimetry, HPLC-DAD, HPLC-ELSD, LC-MS, and GC-MS. , FT-IR, and 2D-IR, etc.

1. Fingerprint pattern

The fingerprint method is consistent with the concept of "integrity" in traditional Chinese medicine. It is a practical quality control method for identifying the authenticity of traditional Chinese medicine and evaluating its quality consistency. It is highly recognized in the international community.

Zhu Nailiang et al! used UPLC to establish fingerprints of desert Cistanche and Cistanche tubulosa medicinal materials, calibrated 15 common peaks, and identified 5 of the common peaks, indicating that the fingerprints of the two Cistanche collected in the Pharmacopoeia are significantly different. This method is simple and reproducible and can be used to distinguish desert Cistanche and Cistanche tubulosa medicinal materials and evaluate the quality of the medicinal materials. Zhu Xujiang et al.12 used HPLC to establish fingerprints of 10 batches of Lanzhou Cistanche to study the inherent quality difference between Lanzhou Cistanche and Cistanche deserticola.

The results show that compared with Cistanche, Lanzhou Cistanche has many missing characteristic peaks, especially the lack of characteristic peaks of echinaceaside: and the similarity between Lanzhou Cistanche and Cistanche control medicinal materials is only about 0.04, indicating that Lanzhou Cistanche is different from genuine Cistanche. There is a big difference. Ma Zhiguo et al. used HPLC to establish fingerprints of 10 batches of Sha Rong decoction pieces, and calibrated 7 common peaks. The similarity evaluation results were all greater than 0.92, indicating that the fingerprints of Sha Rong decoction pieces are specific and can provide a certain level of quality control for Sha Rong decoction pieces. reference. Xiong Yuanjun et al. used HPLC chromatography and used 6 phenylethanoid glycosides as references to establish fingerprints and analysis methods for Cistanche from 9 different origins in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The results showed that the method was stable, reliable, and reproducible. It has good properties and can be used to evaluate the quality of Cistanche.

Xie Jieina et al [used Agilent Zorbax Extend-C8 (150mmx4.6 mm, 5μm) chromatographic column, using 0.095% phosphoric acid aqueous solution-0.095% phosphoric acid acetonitrile solution as the mobile phase linear gradient elution, the elution gradient was 0~18 min, 96% A-4% B; 18~40min, 88%A-12%B; 40~65 min, 85% A-15% B; 65~ 75 min, 85% A-15% B; 75~ 90 min, 80 %A-20%B; 90~ 100min, 80%A-20%B; 100 min, 96%A-4%B, detection wavelength 330nm; volume flow: 1mL/min; temperature is 30℃. HPLC fingerprints of 16 batches of desert cistanche from different origins were established. The results showed that the intrinsic quality of desert cistanche medicinal materials from different sources varied greatly. This method can be used to evaluate the quality of desert cistanche medicinal materials. Tu Pengfei et al. (used reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography to study the phenylethanoid glycosides contained in 4 domestically produced medicinal materials and 1 variant and 25 commercial medicinal materials Cistanche, and analyzed their HPLC spectra. The results showed that these raw medicinal materials all contain There are many kinds of phenylethanoid glycosides, among which the phenylethanoid glycosides contained in Cistanche, Cistanche halophylla, Cistanches alba, and Cistanches tubulosa have similar phenylethanoid glycosides, while Cistanche is quite different from other species. The content of echinacoside and verbascoside The content is highest in Cistanche. Yang Hanchun et al! used verbascoside as a reference substance and a Shim-pack VP-ODS chromatographic column (150mm x 4.6 mm, 5 μm) to establish an HPLC fingerprint analysis method for 22 batches of desert Cistanche. A total of 27 fingerprint peaks of Cistanche medicinal materials were calibrated. The results showed that the fingerprints of different batches of Cistanche medicinal materials were significantly different, as shown in the obvious differences in the number of chromatographic peaks and the chromatographic peak areas of different batches of Cistanche medicinal materials. The similarity evaluation results showed that The similarity of a small number of samples is not high. Yang Jianhua et al. 8 chose RP-HPLC to establish the fingerprint of phenylethanol glycosides in Cistanche, and compared the fingerprints of cultivated products with wild products, different growth stages, and different medicinal parts. The study calibrated 19 common chromatographic peaks and found that the fingerprints of cultivated and wild halo Cistanche are highly similar.

The types and relative contents of chemical components are stable. Fingerprints at different growth stages or different parts also have good consistency, but there are obvious differences in the content of characteristic peaks. This method has good reproducibility and can better reflect the intrinsic quality of the characteristic components of Cistanche salina. Shi et al. 9 compared the HPLC fingerprints and ISSR (inter-simple sequence repeat) gene fingerprints of Cistanche, Cistanche tubulosa, salted Cistanche, and Cistanches, and found that both fingerprints were good for Cistanche medicinal materials. Carry out differentiation and quality control, and the author believes that due to the low content of echinacea in Cistanche, Cistanche cannot replace Cistanche or Cistanche tubulosa in the pharmacopeia. Jiang et al. (101 established an HPLC-DAD-MS method to conduct fingerprint analysis on 36 meat paste medicinal materials from different origins (including 14 desert meat paste, 14 tubular Cistanche, 2 salted Cistanche, and 6 Amaranthus ) fingerprints. Analysis and identification of 18 phenylethanol glycoside compounds. The results showed that Cistanches tubularis, Cistanche halophylla, and Cistanche have the highest similarity, while the similarity of Cistanche is lower, only 0.053.

2. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry

With people's comprehensive understanding of the active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine, inorganic elements have attracted increasing attention. Especially in recent years, some effects of traditional Chinese medicine that cannot be explained by traditional Chinese medicine theory can be explained by the physiological effects of trace elements. Therefore, studying the trace and macro elements in Cistanche and their corresponding element calibration and standardized detection methods are of great significance to establishing and improving the quality control and safety evaluation system of Cistanche. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry has gradually become the main method for detecting inorganic elements due to its high sensitivity, high precision, wide application range, small sample volume, and easy instrument operation. Chen Weijun et al. (used the wet method to directly digest Cistanche powder, and used flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) to directly measure Pb, Cd, and Cu in it. The results showed that Cistanche from the three main producing areas in Xinjiang did not exceed the limit range and was safe for clinical use. Cheng Qilai et al. (121 used flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry and the graphite furnace method to determine that desert Cistanche contains a variety of trace elements essential to the human body. The content of these trace elements from high to low is Ca, Fe, Mg, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Sn, and have high contents of Mg, Ca, Fe, and Zn, which have important physiological functions, nutritional effects, and clinical diagnosis and treatment significance. Qi Yu et al. (3) used a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer to determine the trace elements of manganese and trace elements in Xinjiang Cistanche. The content of copper was compared, and the two sample processing methods of dry digestion and wet digestion were compared. The results showed that neither dry digestion nor wet digestion affected the measurement results. Xu Fang et al. 4) Using an inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer ( ICP-AES) measured the contents of ten trace elements in wild Cistanche, including Li, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, Sr, Mo, [and Ca].

3. High-performance liquid chromatography

High-performance liquid chromatography is widely used in the determination of phenylethanol glycosides in minced meat due to its advantages of high sensitivity and wide linear range. Dong et al.15 established a high-performance liquid phase method that uses the absorption coefficient instead of the peak height or peak area, and continuously determined the 7 phenylethanol glycosides in Cistanche tubulosa and Cistanche through the ratio of the absorbance coefficients of echinaceaside and other compounds. Contents, including echinacea side, sarcobasin A, verbascoside, verbascoside, 2'acetyl verbascoside, 6'-acetyl verbascoside, and cistancheoside C. The results of this method are consistent with the external standard method, and the results show that it is accurate and reliable. Song Qingqing et al.16 established an online pressurized solvent micro-extraction-turbulent flow chromatography-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem system (onlinePLME-TFC-HPLC). The trace sample powder was placed in the extraction tank and then loaded into a pre-column sleeve. The ether ketone (PEEK) pipeline is connected to the end of the pre-column sleeve, and the aqueous phase flows through the PEEK pipeline at a high flow rate to generate high pressure to achieve online pressurized solvent micro-extraction of Cistanche. At the same time, two electronic six-way valves are introduced to complete the entire analysis. The process is divided into an extraction stage and an elution stage to achieve the simultaneous determination of the contents of three phenylethanoid glycosides in Cistanche tubulosa: echinacoside, verbascoside, and isomurabastoside. Guo Xiongfei et al.!! 7 used the HPLC-UV method to compare the contents of echinaceaside, verbascoside, and phenylethanol total glycosides in different parts of Cistanche from different origins in Hotan, Xinjiang. The results showed that the maximum differences in the contents of echinaceaside, verbascoside, and total phenylethanol glycosides in the roots and tops of the same Cistanche plant were as high as 22.4 times, 16.7 times, and 8.7 times, respectively. The active ingredients of Cistanche are mainly distributed in the roots. Ma Zhiguo et al. 118 used a reversed-phase high-performance liquid phase method to simultaneously determine three phenylethanoid glycosides (verbascoside, chrysophyte, and 2'-acetyl chrysophyte) in Amaranthus aurantiacus. The results showed that the content of chrysophyte in A was the highest. , the content of verbascoside is the lowest, and the quality of Amaranth vulgaris purchased from different pharmacies varies greatly. Zhao Kuijun et al.119 used the HPLC-ELSD method to analyze galactitol in 20 batches of Cistanche and Cistanches tubulosa.

4. LC-MS

Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has the advantages of fast speed, strong selectivity, low detection limit, and strong qualitative and quantitative capabilities. It is an ideal tool for the analysis of chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine and is mainly used for the qualitative determination of the chemical components of minced meat. and quantitative research.

Song et al. 20] used HPLC-Qtrap-MS technology to establish a method for quantitatively distinguishing the compound groups of Cistanches tubularis (CT) and Cistanche (CD). The entire workflow is divided into three parts: first, through enhanced full scan (EMS), neutral loss scan (NL), precursor ion scan (Prec) and enhanced product ion scan (EPI), combined with standard material control, secondary Mass spectrometry information and related information reported in existing databases were used to comprehensively screen the compounds in the minced meat; secondly, the HPLC-SMRM method was used to perform relative quantification of the 513 compounds that had been screened; finally, a multivariate statistical analysis method was used combined with quantitative data to distinguish CT and CD chemical composition group. The results showed that betaine, triacid cycle intermediates, phenylethanoid glycosides, and iridoids were markers for distinguishing CT and CD compounds. Lu et al. 1 used high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector-high resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-HRMS) to identify 4 species and a total of 36 batches of Cistanche (including 14 batches of desert Cistanche, 10 batches of tubular Cistanche and 12 batches of Cistanche ). ) and measured the contents of these 10 compounds. Two chemometric methods, hierarchical clustering analysis, and principal component analysis, were used to clearly distinguish the four types of Cistanche. Zhou Ye et al! 221 used HPLC-ESI-MS to detect the contents of seven active ingredients in the traditional Chinese medicine Cistanche from five different origins, including desert sarcoside A, echinaceaside, verbascoside, isolebascoside, 2'- Acetyl verbascoside, cistanche noside C and tubulin B. At the same time, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to establish fingerprints of five kinds of Cistanche, and their common peak rate and variation peak rate were calculated. The results showed that the evaluation results of medicinal materials by the two methods were consistent. Song et al.123] established an online pressurized solvent extraction-turbulent flow chromatography-high performance liquid chromatography (online PLE-TFC-HPLC) method. Taking desert cistanche as an example, they achieved the determination of the contents of eight phenylethanol glycosides in desert cistanche. Measured simultaneously. At the same time, the HPLC-DAD-IT-TOF-MS method was used to identify 91 compounds in the desert Cistanche online extract, and the base peak diagrams of the online extract and the ultrasonic extraction were compared, indicating that the extraction efficiency was consistent with the ultrasonic extraction method. Wang Yiming et al.124) used the LC/ESI-MS/MS method to study 7 phenylethanol glycosides in desert Cistanche, salt Cistanche and tubular Cistanche. As a result, 7 species were identified in desert Cistanche and salt raw Cistanche . 6 species were found, and Cistanche species contained only 5 species. Cao Zhenjie et al. (25) used the LC-MS method to investigate the content of phenylethanol glycosides in desert Cistanche in different harvest seasons. The results showed that the contents of echinacoside, Cistanches A, and 2-acetyl verbascoside varied with the harvest seasons. big difference.

5. Infrared spectroscopy

Infrared spectroscopy is a spectroscopic method that uses the continuous spectrum of electromagnetic waves in the infrared region as a radiation source to irradiate a sample and record the absorption curve of the sample. It is a widely used method in the analysis of organic compounds. Its application in minced meat is mainly to distinguish different parts of minced meat. Xu Rong et al. (261 used FT-IR technology to study the composition differences of different parts of Cistanche seeds after stratification treatment. The results showed that there are carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, pectin, and aromatic substances in Cistanche seeds. Lamination After treatment, the absorption peak of lipids in the seed kernel was significantly weakened, and the soluble protein and sugar components increased, providing a more direct material basis for seed germination. Zhang Shengjun et al! 27 used F-TIR technology combined with second-order three-level identification technology of derivative spectrum and 2D-IR technology to study the ethanol extracts of different concentrations (10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%) of desert Cistanche . and the corresponding medicinal residue. The results show that the active substances such as phenylethanoid glycosides in the minced meat extracted with ethanol are reflected in the infrared spectrum, and it is found that the 70% ethanol extract has the highest content of phenylethanoid glycosides. This method can be used to analyze the components of medicinal liquids and medicinal residues and to distinguish the subtle differences in the components of extracts and medicinal residues of different concentrations. It can also combine the components of extracts and medicinal residues of different concentrations to provide overall information on the medicinal materials of meat paste. Chen Jun et al. ( 28 ] used FT-IR technology combined with 2D-IR technology to identify desert Cistanche and its confounded product Cynomorium cynomolgus. It was found that the IR spectra of the three showed certain differences, and the difference in the second-order derivative spectra was even more obvious. 2D- The IR spectra are not only different but also intuitive. This method can realize the rapid and accurate identification of Cistanche and its confounding products. Wang Xia et al. 129) used FTIR technology combined with cluster analysis method to study the macroscopic differences of desert meat paste in different processing methods, analyze and 180 desert Cistanche samples processed in 3 whole plant processing and 5 different slice processing methods were evaluated and cluster analysis was performed using Assure ID software. The results showed that the samples with different processing methods were significantly different. This method can quickly and effectively identify different processing methods. Cistanche samples. Xu Rong et al. [30] used FT-IR and 2D-IR techniques to analyze and evaluate the skin, middle, and pith parts of desert Cistanche as well as its alcohol extract and water extract. This method can Quickly and comprehensively identify subtle differences in different parts of the same medicinal material. Xu Rong et al.31 used the FT-IR method to study different parts of desert Cistanche seeds and their spectral characteristics and composition differences after mildew or high-temperature treatment. The study found that the composition of the seed coat and seed kernel was significantly different. It was also found that the protein and some sugar contents in the seeds, which are closely related to vitality, were significantly reduced after mildew or high-temperature treatment. Xu Rong et al. 32 also conducted spectrum analysis on desert Cistanche, tubular Cistanche, and salt Cistanche. The results showed that the IR patterns of desert Cistanche and tubular Cistanche were significantly different, and the second-order derivative spectra of desert Cistanche and salt Cistanche were obvious. Differences, the 2D-IR spectrum more intuitively reflects the differences between the three. Liu Yougang et al. 133 used FT-IR technology to analyze the content of phenylethanol glycosides in desert Cistanche, Cistanche tubulosa, and their 95% ethanol extracts. The results showed that the content of phenylethanol glycosides in Cistanche tubuliflora was significantly higher than that in desert Cistanche. It was found that phenylethanol glycosides were effectively enriched in the alcohol extract.

6. GC-MS

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) uses electron bombardment or chemical ionization as an interface, combined with a relatively comprehensive commercial mass spectrometry database, which greatly improves the analytical capabilities of mass spectrometry and has the advantages of high sensitivity and good repeatability. Mainly used for research on difficult-to-volatile substances and thermally unstable substances. Zhou Yubi et al.141 used column chromatography to divide the fat-soluble components of desert Cistanche into three parts: non-polar, weakly polar, and polar. They analyzed these three parts using the GC-MS method and identified a total of 73 compounds. A comprehensive analysis of the fat-soluble components of desert meat paste was conducted. Qiao Haili et al. [35] used dynamic headspace bagging adsorption method combined with GC-MS technology to study the volatile components of desert Cistanche inflorescences from the budding stage to the full flowering stage. As a result, 40 volatile compounds were identified from Cistanche inflorescences. The main ones in the budding stage were Hydrocarbons and green leaf volatiles, and the types and relative contents change with the opening of flowers on the inflorescence. The volatile components in the early and full flowering stages are mainly aromatic esters and benzene ring compounds, and the relative contents are significantly higher than those in the budding stage. Increase.

7. Others

Because the phenolic group of phenylethanol glycosides can develop color with aluminum nitrate and diazonium salts. Du Niansheng et al. 136] used the aluminum nitrate-colorimetric method to determine the content of total phenylethanoid glycosides in desert Cistanche. The results show that this method is simple to operate, sensitive, and accurate, with an average recovery rate of 100.7% (n=5) and a coefficient of variation (cv) of 1.09%. Li et al1371 analyzed the content of phenylethanoid glycosides in desert Cistanche through the diazonium salt-colorimetric method. The results showed that the phenylethanol glycoside content in the sample was 1.275%, the average recovery rate was 101.3%, and the RSD was 3.7% (n =4). Gong Lidong et al. 38) used a capillary electrophoresis-electrochemical detection system (CE-ED) to study the monosaccharide composition of Cistanche (desert Cistanche produced in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang tube flower Cistanche and artificially cultivated tube flower Cistanche) polysaccharides and determine the monosaccharide content. Li Yuxia et al! 39 used an amino acid analyzer to analyze the composition of various amino acids in Cistanche in the Xinjiang desert. The study found that the Cistanche sample contained a total of 17 kinds of amino acids after acid hydrolysis treatment, with a total amino acid mass fraction of 7.87% and protein of 16.38%. Among them, the human body The seven essential amino acids are in a reasonable ratio, E/T=38.5%, E/N=62.6%. Li Bin et al. [40] used an ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer (UV) combined with Nash reagent to determine the maximum absorption wavelength of mannitol as 413 nm and measured the mannitol content in 6 batches of salted Cistanche. Ma Xizhong [4] used supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) technology to extract volatile components from the traditional Chinese medicine Rouhuanrong, and combined capillary gas chromatography (CGC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to determine their content.

Section 2 Research progress on the analysis of components in the traditional Chinese medicine Cistanche

The ingredients contained in traditional Chinese medicine are extremely complex, and their multi-component, multi-pathway, multi-target, and integrated regulatory effects have become a consensus in the industry. This has brought great challenges to the elucidation of the active ingredients and mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicine. With the introduction and improvement of the serum medicinal chemistry theory of traditional Chinese medicine by domestic scholar Professor Wang Xijun, scholars have gradually realized that after traditional Chinese medicine is administered through appropriate routes, it undergoes absorption, metabolism, and other processes in the body, and what is finally absorbed into the blood is often poly monomers. The active ingredient group is formed by ingredients, its structure can be either a prototype ingredient, a metabolite of the ingredient monomer, or a new chemical ingredient formed by the interaction between the monomer ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine, or it can be generated by the body under the action of drugs of endogenous physiologically active substances.

1. In vivo composition analysis of the main chemical components of Cistanche

Cistanche is a well-known tonic in traditional Chinese medicine. Although it is widely used in clinical applications, the research on its metabolism in the body is mostly focused on the study of several single active ingredients, such as echinaceaside, verbascoside, and chrysophyllin. Currently, the body composition of Cistanche reported in the literature is The main analytical methods are HPLC-UV and LC-MS.

Jia et al. [42-43] established an HPLC-UV method to study the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of echinaceaside in vivo and extracted, separated, and screened the metabolites for efficacy. Wang et al. I44 used LC/MS-IT-TOF technology combined with effective metabolite discovery strategies to conduct holographic screening and identification of the in vivo metabolites of echinacea. Cui et al. 145] used UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS technology to study the in vivo chemical composition of echinaceaside and verbascoside, the active ingredients of Cistanche, and finally identified 29 compounds from plasma, urine, feces, and bile. a metabolite. Deng et al.146 used HPLC/Q-TOF-MS technology to systematically analyze the metabolites and metabolic pathways of chrysophyllin in the body and screened and identified 66 metabolites from rat feces. The study showed that chrysophyllin is easily converted into Isochrysoside, and is easily hydrolyzed into degradation products. The main metabolic pathways of chlorophyllin are hydrolysis, hydroxylation, acetylation, sulfonation, reduction, dehydrogenation, and dimethylation reactions. Qi et al147 used UPLC/ESI-QTOF-MS combined with MSE technology to analyze the chemical components of verbascoside in vivo and identified 35 metabolites from rat urine, including 19 parent drug metabolites and 16 degradation product metabolites. things. This method is fast and reliable, provides reliable information on verbascoside metabolism, and can be widely used in the study of natural product metabolites. Yang et al.48] used LC-MS/MS to study the in vivo pharmacokinetic process of echinacea. Wu et al. 149] used LC-MS/MS technology combined with a simple solid-phase extraction method (SPE) to determine the content of verbascoside in plasma and tissue homogenates and study its distribution in the brain and pharmacokinetic processes in vivo. Yang et al. (0) successfully applied LC-MS/MS technology to the in vivo pharmacokinetics study of ganglioside B through intravenous administration.

2. In vivo component analysis of Cistanche extract

At present, there is still a lack of systematic research on the components of Cistanche extract. The main analysis methods are HPLC and UPLC-Q-TOF-MS.

Zhou et al[51 used the HPLC method, using microemulsion as the mobile phase, to separate and identify four phenylethanoid glycosides (echinacoside, anthocyanoside B, verbascoside, and isorebascoside) in the blood components of Amaranthus mange. This method eliminates the complicated pretreatment steps of biological samples and enables direct analysis of biological samples only after dilution with the microemulsion mobile phase. Li Wenlan et al. 152-53] used high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS) technology to study the chemical composition of rats after oral administration of desert Cistanche. By comparing the control group and According to the chromatogram of the dosing group, a total of 24 compounds were identified in rat urine and serum, including 9 prototype components and 15 metabolites. At the same time, the main metabolic pathways of Cistanche in the body (9 types in total) were deduced, including methylation reaction, demethylation reaction, hydrolysis reaction, hydroxylation reaction, acetylation reaction, glucuronidation reaction, dehydrogenation reaction, Sulfonation, and esterification reactions. Li et al! 54 used UPLC-Q-TOF-MS technology combined with the orthogonal partial least squares discrimination analysis method (OPLS-DA) to quickly screen the plasma, urine, and feces of rats after oral administration of Cistanche tuberose and desert Cistanche. prototypes and metabolites. Results: 71 chemical components were identified from desert Cistanche, including 25 prototypes and 46 metabolites; 45 chemical components were identified from Cistanche tubulosa, including 18 prototypes and 27 metabolites. The study showed that phenylethanoid glycosides Substances are mainly degraded into small molecular compounds in the gastrointestinal tract of rats; Cistancheside B, Cistancheoside C, Cistancheside D, and Cistancheoside E only exist in desert Cistanche and are easily metabolized into methylated hydroxytyrosol. The metabolites of Cistanche and Cistanche can be distinguished.