Quantitative LC-MS/MS analysis of seven ginsenosides and three aconitum alkaloids in Shen-Fu decoction

Abstract

Shen-Fu decoction is a traditional Chinese medicine prescription with a 3:2 ratio of Radix Ginseng and Fuzi (Radix Aconiti lateralis praeparata). Ginsenosides and alkaloids are considered to be the main active components of Shen-Fu decoction. However, no analytical methods have been used to quantitatively analyse both components in Shen-Fu decoction simultaneously.
We successfully developed a rapid resolution liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (RRLC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous analysis of seven ginsenosides and three aconitum alkaloids in Shen-Fu decoction, the decoction of Radix ginseng and Fuzi (Radix Aconiti lateralis praeparata). Chromatogrpahic separation by RPLC was achieved using a reversed-phase column and a water/acetonitrile mobile phase, containing 0.05% formic acid and using a gradient system. The method was optimized to allow for simultaneous analysis of all analytes in 11minutes without the need for baseline resolution of the components. Furthermore, the separation demonstrated good linearity (r > 0.9882), repeatability (RSD < 7.01%), intra- and inter-day precisions (RSD < 5.06%) and high yields of recovery (91.13-111.97%) for ten major constituents, namely ginsenoside-Re, Rg1, Rb1, Rc, Rb2, Rd, Rf, aconitine, hypacoitine and mesaconitine.
The developed method could be used as a rapid and reliable approach for assessment of the quantity of the major constituents in Shen-Fu decoction.

Full text

R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E Open Access
Quantitative LC-MS/MS analysis of seven
ginsenosides and three aconitum alkaloids in
Shen-Fu decoction
Na Guo
1
, Mingtao Liu
2
, Dawei Yang
3
, Ying Huang
1
, Xiaohong Niu
1
, Ruifan Wu
4
, Ying Liu
5
, Guizhi Ma
4*
and Deqiang Dou
6*
Abstract
Background: Shen-Fu decoction is a traditional Chinese medicine prescription with a 3:2 ratio of Radix Ginseng and
Fuzi (Radix Aconiti lateralis praeparata). Ginsenosides and alkaloids are considered to be the main active
components of Shen-Fu decoction. However, no analytical methods have been used to quantitatively analyse both
components in Shen-Fu decoction simultaneously.
Results: We successfully developed a rapid resolution liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass
spectrometry (RRLC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous analysis of seven ginsenosides and three aconitum
alkaloids in Shen-Fu decoction, the decoction of Radix ginseng and Fuzi (Radix Aconiti lateralis praeparata).
Chromatogrpahic separation by RPLC was achieved using a reversed-phase column and a water/acetonitrile
mobile phase, containing 0.05% formic acid and using a gradient system. The method was optimized to allow
for simultaneous analysis of all analytes in 11minutes without the need for baseline resolution of the components.
Furthermore, the separation demonstrated good linearity (r > 0.9882), repeatability (RSD < 7.01%), intra- and
inter-day precisions (RSD < 5.06%) and high yields of recovery (91.13-111.97%) for ten major constituents, namely
ginsenoside-Re, Rg
1
,Rb
1
, Rc, Rb
2
, Rd, Rf, aconitine, hypacoitine and mesaconitine.
Conclusions: The developed method could be used as a rapid and reliable approach for assessment of the
quantity of the major constituents in Shen-Fu decoction.
Keywords: Ginsenosides, Aconitum alkaloids, Shen-Fu decoction, RRLC-MS/MS
Background
Decoction is the traditional prescription of traditional
Chinese medicines (TCMs). Based on TCM theory, one
single herb or several kinds of herbs combined are
boiled in water to make the decoction. First documented
in 1465, Shen-Fu decoction is a TCM prescription with
a 3:2 ratio of Radix Ginseng and Fuzi (Radix Aconiti
lateralis praeparata). Both components have been
commonly used as herbal medicines in China for about
1800 years, predominantly used for folk treatment of dis-
eases with the sign of Yangqi decline or Yang exhaustion.
Shen-Fu decoction is also used to treat cardiovascular
diseases such as circulatory collapse, shock, thoracic ob-
struction and acute thoracic pain. Shen-Fu Injection (SFI
for intravenous medication), is a typical form of Shen-Fu
decoction, that has been used for treatment of many
kinds of diseases because of its cardiovascular protective
effectiveness [1-3]. The main active components found
in Shen-Fu decoction are ginsenosides and alkaloids.
Ginsenosides are generally classified into four groups:
protopanaxadiol, protopanaxatriol, ocotillol and oleanolic
acid type [4-6], Currently, more than 150 ginsenosides
have been isolated and identified in the literature.
Among them, ginsenosides-Rb
1
,Rb
2
, Rc, Rd, Rg
1
,Reand
Rf (Figure 1) are the most important compounds in che-
mical analysis of ginsengs. At present, about 224 alkaloids
have been isolated and identified from Aconitum [7,8].
* Correspondence: maguizhi000@sina.com;deqiangdou@126.com
4
College of Pharmacy, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China
6
Department of Chinese Medicine Chemistry, Liaoning University of
Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dalian 116600, China
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
© 2013 Guo et al.; licensee Chemistry Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Guo et al. Chemistry Central Journal 2013, 7:165
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These have been classified into four major groups, nonester
alkaloids (NEAs), monoester diterpene alkaloids (MDAs),
diester diterpene alkaloids (DDAs) and lipoalkaloids.
Aconitum alkaloids are mainly constituted of three DDAs,
diester-diterpence called aconitine (AC), measaconitine
(MA) and hypaconitine (HA) (Figure 1). They are known
for their high toxicity and pharmacological activity, as well
as being the target markers of Fuzi. In general, the cura-
tive effect of traditional Chinese medicine is an integrative
result of a number of ginsenosides and alkaloids. In order
to minimize the variability of active ingredients in the
decoction and ensure repeatable and reproducible thera-
peutic effects, it is very important to establish quality
control methodology for the decoction. To this end,
analysis of ginsenosides and Aconitum alkaloids is required
to assess the quality of Shen-Fu decoction.
Previous methods that have been used to analyze
ginsenosides and alkaloids include HPLC-DAD (ELSD),
CE, GC-MS and LC-MS [9-19] and alkaloids [20-30]. In
comparison with traditional HPLC, RRLC provides a
higher peak capacity, greater resolution, increased sensi-
tivity and higher speed of analysis. When coupled to a
triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer (QQQ-MS/
MS), it can achieve high sensitivity and selectivity by using
the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) scan mode with-
out the baseline chromatographic separation of target
analytes. This method greatly facilitates the quantification
of chemical markers in complex matrixes with only a
small amount of sample. To date, there are no studies
reporting the simultaneously quantitative determination
of ginsenosides and Aconitum alkaloids in Shen-Fu decoc-
tion. The primary aim of the present study was to develop
a direct and rapid RRLC-MS/MS method for simulta-
neously quantifying the ten constituents in Shen-Fu decoc-
tion, namely, ginsenosides-Rb1, Rb2, Rc, Rd, Rg1, Re and
Rf and Aconitum alkaloids including AC, MA and HA.
Compound R1R2R3
Protopanaxadiol-type
Ginsenoside-Rb1 -O-Glc2-1Glc -H -O-Glc6-1Glc
Ginsenoside-Rb2 -O-Glc2-1Glc -H -O-Glc6-1Arap
Ginsenoside-Rc -O-Glc2-1Glc -H -O-Glc6-1Araf
Ginsenoside-Rd -O-Glc2-1Glc -H -O-Glc
Protopanaxadiol-type
Ginsenoside-Re -OH -O-Glc2-1Rha -O-Glc
Ginsenoside-Rg1 -OH -O-Glc -O-Glc
Ginsenoside-Rf -OH -O-Glc2-1Glc -OH
R1
R2
R3
R2
H3CO
N
R1
OCH3
OCH3
OH
OR3
OH
OCH3
O O
Compound R1R2R3
AC C2H5OH acetyl
MA CH3OH acetyl
HA CH3Hacetyl
Figure 1 Chemical structures of ginsenosides and Aconitum alkaloids analyzed in Shen-Fu decoction.
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Results and discussion
Chromatographic conditions and MS/MS method
development
Different mobile phases, including acetonitrile with 0.05%,
0.1% aqueous formic acid, acetic acid, 5 mM and 10 mM
ammonium formate solutions were tested. The best peak
shape and resolution was obtained with a mixture of
acetonitrile and aqueous 0.05% formic acid solution.
Using an optimized elution gradient, the main compo-
nents were separately eluted within 11 min. The typical
RRLC-QQQ MS/MS chromatograms of the marker
chemicals in Shen-Fu decoction are shown in Figure 2.
In order to increase sensitivity and specificity of quanti-
fication, multiple reaction monitoring was performed.
All factors related with MS performance including
ionization mode, capillary voltage, fragmentor voltage,
collision energy, gas flow and desolvation temperature
were analyzed. The optimum conditions were determined
as follows: postive ion mode, capillary voltage 4000 V,
drying gas, gas temperature 350°C and nebulizer pressure
of 50 psi.
Optimization of this MS/MS method produced highest
achiveable response using the MRM pairs comprising of
the precursor and product ions, which can achieve
better quantitation than reported results using the se-
lected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. After optimization,
the precursor and product ions of the ten analytes were
recorded (Table 1). The optimum collision energy was
determined to be 50 eV for Ginsenoside Re, 40 eV for
Rg
1
, 55 eV for Rf and Rd, 65 eV for Rb
1
, Rc and Rb
2
. For
alkaloids, they required a lower collision energy of 35 eV
for MA, 40 eV for HA and 45 eV for AC (Table 1).
Method validation
To determine the reliability of the test results, the method
validation included linearity, repeatability, intra- and inter-
day precisions and recovery test. The standard calibration
curves of all compounds were shown in Table 2 with satis-
factory linearity (r > 0.9882). Aconitum alkaloids had a
linear range of 0.03 ng mL
-1
to 6.24 ng mL
-1
, whereas
ginsenosides displayed a wider linear range of 3.90 ng mL
-1
to 125.00 ng mL
-1
(Table 2). The limit of dectection (LOD)
ranged from 0.01 ng mL
-1
to 1.25 ng mL
-1
for all ten
analytes. The intra-day and inter-day with RSD less than
5.06% are demonstrated in Table 2. The repeatability was
satisfactory with RSD below 7.01%. Recovery of the ten
compounds (Table 3) was within the range of 91.13-
111.97% and showed no relevant difference in the percent
A
Re, Rg1
MA
Rf
AC, HC
Rb1 Rc Rb2
Rd
B
Re, Rg1
MA
Rf
AC, HC
Rb1
Rc
Rb2
Rd
Figure 2 Typical RRLC-QQQ MS/MS chromatograms of marker chemicals in Shen-Fu decoction (A) standard mixture (B) Shen-Fu decoction.
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yield recovered using with different concentrations of the
compounds. Thus, the ten analytes can be quantitatively
analyzed simultaneously in a relatively short-time using
this optimized method.
Sample analysis
The described RRLC-QQQ-MS/MS method was subse-
quently applied to the analysis of Shen-Fu decoction,
made by authenticated Radix ginseng and aconite root
(see method part). The quantitative analytical results are
shown in Table 4. The repeatability of the ten analytes in
the Shen-Fu decoction was reliable (RSD<6.28%). From
Table 4, Shen-Fu decoction showed higher amounts of
ginsenosides than alkaloids. This result meant that the
Shen-Fu decoction may have very low toxicity levels, as
aconitine, hypacoitine and mesaconitine are the main
toxicity source of some toxic herbal medicines [27]. Fur-
thermore, ginsenoside-Rb1 was the most abundant of
the ten compounds in Shen-Fu decoction. Conversely,
aconitine was shown to be the least abundant of the ten
compounds in Shen-Fu decoction. This method would
allow for comparison of the quantity of ginsenosides and
alkaloids between Shen-Fu decoction preparations and
could therefore be used as a rapid and reliable approach
for assessment of the quality of Shen-Fu decoction.
Materials and methods
Chemicals, standards and samples
HPLC grade acetonitrile was purchased from Merck (Germany)
and MS grade formic acid from Sigma-Aldrich. All other
chemicals and solvents were of an analytical grade. Ultra-
pure water (18.2MΩ) was prepared with a Milli-Q water
purification system (Millipore, Bedford, MA, USA).
The standards reference samples of Ginsenosides Rb
1
,
Rb
2
, Rc, Rd, Rg
1
, Re, Rf, AC, HA and MA were purchased
from the National Institute for Control of Pharmaceutical
and Biological Products (Beijing, China). The purity of the
standards was relatively high at no less than 98%. Radix gin-
seng was purchased from Liaoning luyuan Pharmaceutical
Co., Ltd. in China. The processed aconite root was pur-
chased from Tong-Ren-Tang Pharmaceutical store (Beijing,
PR China). Panax ginseng and the prepared aconite root
were authenticated by Professor Xirong, He, Insitute of
traditional Chinese medicine, China Academy of Chinese
Medical Sciences.
Sample preparation
Reference standards solutions
Stock solutions were prepared by accurate measurement
of ginsenoside Re, Rg
1
,Rf,Rb
1
, Rc, Rb
2
, Rd, aconitine,
hypacoitine and mesaconitine. They were dissolved with
methanol respectively to get ten reference standards stock
solutions (1.0 mg mL
-1
), and were stored at 4°C.
Extracts of shen-fu decoction
ShenFu Formula (SF) was prepared by combining of
Radix ginseng and the processed aconite root (at a ratio
of 3:2). Dried and pulverized white ginseng (18 g) and
Table 1 Mass spectra properties of ten compounds in
Shen-Fu decoction
Compound name Precursor ion Product ion Frag (V) CE (V)
Ginsenoside Re 969.6 789.5 150 50
Ginsenoside Rg
1
823.5 643.5 135 40
Ginsenoside Rf 823.3 365.3 140 55
Ginsenoside Rb
1
1131.6 365.0 150 65
Ginsenoside Rc 1101.7 335.0 150 65
Ginsenoside Rb
2
1101.6 334.8 150 65
Ginsenoside Rd 969.9 789.3 150 55
Aconitine 646.4 586.4 135 45
Mesaconitine 632.3 572.3 135 35
Hypacoitine 616.3 556.2 135 40
Table 2 Calibration curves, LOD, LOQ, Precision and Repeatability for ten compounds in Shen-Fu decoction
Compound name Calibration curve r Linear range
(ng·mL
-1
)
LOD
(ng·mL
-1
)
LOQ
(ng·mL
-1
)
Intra-day
(n=6)
Inter-day
(n=6)
Repeatability
(n=5)
Ginsenoside-Rb
1
Y=11.04X+181.44 0.9930 3.90~125.00 0.97 3.00 3.44 4.11 6.51
Ginsenoside-Rb
2
Y=31.68X+246.74 0.9882 3.90~125.00 0.97 3.00 2.23 3.55 7.01
Ginsenoside-Rc Y=20.13X+25.79 0.9921 3.90~125.00 1.25 3.00 2.02 3.92 4.21
Ginsenoside-Rd Y=13.60X+69.00 0.9993 3.90~125.00 0.75 1.95 4.18 4.71 3.16
Ginsenoside-Re Y=18.52X+136.68 0.9973 3.90~125.00 0.48 1.95 3.34 5.06 4.67
Ginsenoside-Rf Y=37.66X+473.14 0.9952 3.90~125.00 0.97 3.00 2.05 3.12 5.03
Ginsenoside-Rg
1
Y=52.38X+109.20 0.9994 3.90~125.00 0.48 1.50 2.29 2.49 4.12
Aconitine Y=6193.52X−80.34 0.9996 0.03~1.25 0.01 0.04 2.76 3.51 4.45
Mesaconitine Y=3617.22X−63.02 0.9939 0.03~1.25 0.01 0.04 3.97 3.28 4.96
Hypaconitine Y=1207.82X+180.44 0.9960 0.19~6.24 0.01 0.04 2.55 2.42 4.81
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the processed aconite root (12 g) were ground and then
refluxed three times with 300 mL of water for 60 min at
100°C. After cooling, the extracted solutions were fil-
tered under vacuum. The solutions were condensed
under decompression and finally were freeze-dried. The
decoction extract was dissolved in a measured volume of
water with a concentration equal to 10 mg of crude bo-
tanicals per milliliter. 1mL of the solution was precipi-
tated with 8 mL ethanol allowed to sit for 24 h at 4°C.
The solution was filtered under vacuum. The filtrate was
transferred to a 50 mL volumetric flask. Prior to injec-
tion, all samples were filtered through a 0.22 μm mem-
brane filter.
RRLC-MS conditions
An Agilent-1200 RRLC/6410A QQQ system (Agilent,
MA, USA) equipped with an electrospray ionization (ESI)
source and operated in positive ion mode (data analysis
software Masshunter version B.01.04) was used for the
simultaneous determination of seven ginsenosides and
Table 3 Analsysis of the recovery of ten compounds in Shen-Fu decoction
Compounds Initial amount (ng) Added amount (ng) Detected amount (ng) Recovery (%) RSD/% (n=5)
Ginsenosid-Re 2074.12 1700 3673.54 ± 230.37 94.08 6.27
2074.12 2100 3991.27 ± 117.73 91.29 2.95
2074.12 2500 4475.56 ± 236.76 96.06 5.29
Ginsenoside-Rg
1
2260.51 1800 3959.88 ± 307.37 94.41 7.76
2260.51 2250 4310.87 ± 229.80 91.13 5.33
2260.51 2700 5176.34 ± 166.16 107.99 3.21
Ginsenoside-Rb
1
2423.46 2000 4299.39 ± 196.65 93.80 4.57
2423.46 2500 4812.75 ±185.92 95.57 3.86
2423.46 3000 5271.72 ± 130.37 94.94 2.47
Ginsenoside-Rc 2231.62 1800 3933.62 ± 155.38 94.56 3.95
2231.62 2250 4644.8 ± 231.31 107.25 4.98
2231.62 2700 5043.67 ± 244.21 104.15 4.84
Ginsenoside-Rb
2
1597.95 1200 2880.31 ± 83.82 106.86 2.91
1597.95 1500 3277.51 ± 128.48 111.97 3.92
1597.95 1800 3510.26 ± 169.97 106.24 4.84
Ginsenoside-Rd 816.73 640 1416.19 ± 86.39 93.67 6.10
816.73 800 1642.99 ± 95.82 103.28 5.83
816.73 960 1700.19 ± 80.93 92.03 4.76
Ginsenoside-Rf 2000.12 1600 3563.83 ± 252.68 97.73 7.09
2000.12 2000 4173.63 ± 261.27 108.68 6.26
2000.12 2400 4549.1 ± 256.57 106.21 5.64
Aconitine 2.91 2.4 5.52 ± 0.27 108.75 4.89
2.91 3.0 5.67 ± 0.31 92.00 5.47
2.91 3.6 6.7 ± 0.34 105.28 5.07
Mesaconitine 7.12 5.6 12.98 ± 0.66 104.64 5.08
7.12 7.0 13.74 ± 0.68 94.57 4.95
7.12 8.4 15.82 ± 0.56 103.57 3.54
Hypaconitine 100.06 80 174.69 ± 7.95 93.29 4.55
100.06 100 204.9 ± 10.90 104.84 5.32
100.06 120 225.07 ± 7.81 104.18 3.47
Table 4 Contents of ten compounds in Shen-Fu decoction
Samples Content (μg/g)
Rb
1
Rd Re Rf Rg
1
Rc Rb
2
Aconitine Mesaconitine Hypaconitine
247.17±11.27 84.21±4.31 210.64±12.66 204.66±10.24 231.22±11.75 223.19±14.01 121.16±7.41 0.21±0.01 0.76±0.04 10.05±0.48
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three aconitum alkaloids in Shen-Fu decoction. The sepa-
ration was performed on an Agilent ZORBAX C18 SB co-
lumn (100 mm×2.1 mm, 1.8 μm). The gradient mobile
phases consisted of (A) water containing 0.05% formic
acid and (B) acetonitrile for gradient elution from the co-
lumn at 40°C. The linear gradient conditions assessed for
gradient optimization were as follows: 0–2min,28-34%B;
2–6min,34-35%;6–10 min, 35-100%; 10–11 min, 100%.
The flow rate was 0.35 ml/min. The column temperature
was 40°C. The conditions for MS analysis were as follows:
drying gas N
2
flow rate 12 L min
-1
, gas temperature 350°C
and nebulizer pressure was 50 psi. The capillary voltage was
set to 4000 V. MRM was employed for quantification. The
precursor-to-product ion pair, fragmentor voltage (Frag V)
and collision energy (CE) for each analyte are described
(Table 1). The dwell time of each ion pair was 200 ms.
Method validation
An external calibration method was used for quantitative
analysis with the linear calibration curves constructed
using six different concentrations of the ten compounds.
Each concentration was analyzed in triplicate and then the
calibration curves were constructed by plotting the peak
areas versus the concentrations of each analyte. The LOD
and limit of quantification (LOQ) were measured with the
signal-to-noise ratios of 3:1 and 10:1, respectively. The
intra-day precision was determined by analysis of the
standard solution at six times within 1 day. Inter-day preci-
sion on other hand, was determined by repeated analysis of
the sample for three consecutive days. For the assessment
of experimental repeatability test, five independent sample
solutions were prepared by the procedures noted in
Extracts of Shen-Fu decoction. The recovery of this method
was determined using the standard addition method. Three
different concentration levels (approximately equivalent
to 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2 times of the concentration of the ori-
ginal amount in the matrix) of the references standards were
added into the sample in triplicate. The average recoveries
were determined by the following equation: Recovery(%)=
(Observed amount −Original amount)/Spiked amount ×
100%,RSD(%) = (SD/mean) × 100%.
Conclusions
This is the first report of the simultaneous determination
of the major compounds in Shen-Fu decoction. By using
RRLC coupled with an ESI triple quadrupole tandem spec-
trometer, we developed and validated a rapid, simple
and reliable method to simultaneously determine ten
marker chemicals (ginsenoside Re, Rg
1
,Rb
1
,Rc,Rb
2
,
Rd, Rf, aconitine, hypacoitine and mesaconitine) in the
Shen-Fu decoction. This method provides an excellent
quantitative tool for the quality assessments of TCM
formulae because of its high capacity, high sensitivity,
high selectivity and short analysis time.
Abbreviations
RRLC-MS/MS: Rapid resolution liquid chromatography coupled with tandem
mass spectrometry; QQQ-MS/MS: Triple quadrupole tandem mass
spectrometer; RSD: Relative standard deviations; TCMs: Traditional Chinese
medicines; SFI: Shen-Fu Injection; SIM: Selected ion monitor; MRM: Multiple
reaction monitor; ESI: Electrospray ionization; Frag V: Fragmentor voltage;
CE: Collision energy; LOD: Limit of detection; LOQ: Limit of quantification;
NEAs: Nonester alkaloids; MDAs: Monoester diterpene alkaloids; DDAs: Diester
diterpene alkaloids; AC: Aconitine; MA: Measaconitine; HA: Hypaconitine.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’contributions
GN, M-GZ and D-DQ conceived of the study, participated in its design and
coordination, and drafted the manuscript. GN, L-MT and Y-DW performed
experiments and analyzed results and helped to draft the manuscript.
HY, N-XH, W-RF and LY helped to do experiments. All authors read and
approved the manuscript.
Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by 2013 Program for Liaoning Innovative
Research Team in University (LT2013020 the Autonomic Project of China
Academy of Chinese Medicine Sciences (project number zz2012011) and the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 81001597 and 81370095).
Author details
1
Experimental Research Center, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences,
Beijing 100700, China.
2
SRI International, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
3
Key
Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess
Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Songling road 189, Qingdao
266101, China.
4
College of Pharmacy, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi
830011, China.
5
Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resource
Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ministry of Education, Institute of
Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union
Medical College, Beijing 100050, China.
6
Department of Chinese Medicine
Chemistry, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dalian
116600, China.
Received: 9 July 2013 Accepted: 9 September 2013
Published: 10 October 2013
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doi:10.1186/1752-153X-7-165
Cite this article as: Guo et al.:Quantitative LC-MS/MS analysis of seven
ginsenosides and three aconitum alkaloids in Shen-Fu decoction.
Chemistry Central Journal 2013 7:165.
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