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The medicinal nature of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) mainly plays a role in regulating the energy and material metabolism of the body. The energy metabolism of the body is also regulated by the nervous and endocrine systems, and the hormones are an important component of the endocrine system to realize the coordinated action. Therefore, the medicinal nature of TCM is inextricably linked with the metabolism of hormones. Hyperthyroidism, qi-yin deficiency syndrome is regarded as the classic heat syndrome category in Chinese medicine, which can be used as model to reflect the mechanism and difference of qi tonifying of ginseng herbs with different medicinal natures. Steroid hormones are synthesized in the adrenal cortex, mitochondria of placental cells, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, and gonads of the human body by the participation of various metabolic enzymes. Meanwhile, most of the patients with hyperthyroidism have adrenocortical dysfunction in the clinic, and the corresponding clinical symptoms are closely related to the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis (HPT), the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPG). When hyperthyroidism occurs, the production and release of steroid hormones will be affected to a certain extent. To explore the correlation between the level of steroid hormones and hyperthyroidism, and the ameliorative effects of red ginseng and ginseng leaves of different types of the genus Ginseng on hypermetabolism of hyperthyroidism and the changes of related indexes, a method of ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS) was established for rapid identification and quantification of chemical components, including adrenaline, androstenedione, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, estriol, progesterone, 17α-hydroxypregnenolone, corticosterone, and cortisol in rat serum. Then, multivariate analysis method, principal component analysis (PCA), and Spearman test were used to analyze the correlation among adrenaline, steroid hormones, and thyroid function. The results showed that the contents of steroid hormone in the serum of the model group of rats decrease to different degrees, compared with the control group, and increase after the administration of different types of ginsengs. Meanwhile, it was proved that the established method has high sensitivity, good reproducibility, high accuracy, and fast analysis, which can screen a large number of steroid hormones in complex samples in a short time, for accurately investigation of the effects of ginsengs on the content of 9 types of steroid hormones in hyperthyroidism rats. The abnormal levels of steroid hormones are related to thyroid hormones. Corticosterone and adrenaline can serve as key indicators for regulating steroid hormone metabolism of TCMs like ginsengs. Testosterone can be used as the biomarker for regulating steroid hormones of the cold nature herbs. Adrenaline and androstenedione can be used as biomarkers for regulating steroid hormones of the warm nature herbs. This method can conveniently, quickly, accurately, and efficiently complete the analysis of target components in samples. The average recoveries of steroid hormones in rat serum range from 88.75% to 106.94%, and the relative standard deviation is less than 1.99%. This can be used for the determination of steroid hormones in rat serum systematically, rapidly, accurately and efficiently, and provides a methodological reference for the analysis and determination of steroid hormones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method of ultra-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS) was developed to determine the contents of deoxycholic acid, chenodeoxycholic acid, hyodeoxycholic acid, cholic acid, glycinecholic acid, taurocholic acid, tauroporic deoxycholic acid, taurocholic acid in the serum of rats with hyperthyroidism and each administration group. The separation of compounds was carried out on an Agilent zorbax SB-C18 column (100 mm×2.1 mm×1.8 μm). The mobile phase was 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid in the water, the flow rate was 0.4 mL/min, the injection volume was 5 μL. The mass spectrometry was determined by electrospray ionization in negative ion mode, and was scanned by multiple response monitoring mode. The ion scanning range was m/z 50-1 000, with a capillary voltage of 3.5 kV, ion source temperature of 150 ℃, atomization gas flow rate of 50 L/h, desolvation gas flow rate of 800 L/h, desolvation temperature of 250 ℃. Multivariate analysis method of principal component analysis (PCA) was used to analyze the content of bile acids in each group, which identified the nature of ginseng and biomarkers of bile acids that regulated the cold and hot nature of ginseng. Spearman was used to analyze the correlation between bile acid level and thyroid function. The results showed that the calibration curves of 8 bile acids were linear in the quantitative range. The average recoveries of bile acid isotopes ranged from 82.71% to 104.05% and the coefficients of variation were all less than 15%. Compared with the blank control group, the contents of deoxycholic acid, goose deoxycholic acid, porcine deoxycholic acid, and cholic acid in the serum of hyperthyroidism rats decreased, and the content of primary bile acid-cholic acid increased after administration of Phellodendrina chinense and ginseng leaves. The cholic acid, deoxycholic acid, and goose deoxycholic acid can be used as the biomarkers for regulating bile acids in cold and cool nature herbs, and glycine cholic acid, deoxycholic acid, and taurocholic acid can be used as the biomarkers for regulating bile acids in warm nature herbs. The level of thyroxine (T4) was negatively correlated with deoxycholic acid. The level of tri-iodothyronine (T3) was negatively correlated with porcine deoxycholic acid, glycine cholic acid, taurocholic acid, taurocholic acid, and taurocholic acid. The UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS method has the advantages of simple operation, high sensitivity, and strong multiplexing detection capability, which can be used to determine the content of serum bile acid. The abnormal level of bile acid is associated with thyroid hormone to a certain extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]