Chemical basis of hawthorn processed with honey protecting against myocardial ischaemia

Hawthorn including many plants from the genus Crataegus (C.) is used for traditional medicines, herbal drugs, and dietary supplements all over the world. In China, C. pinnatifida Bge. var. major N, E. Br, and C. pinnatifida Bge. are two major species that are used as hawthorn. The purpose of this study is to assay the myocardial protection of hawthorn fruit processed with honey (MSZ) and screen the chemical basis of MSZ on this effect. Firstly, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time of flight-mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS) was used to analyze the chemical constituents of the sliced dry fruit of hawthorn (SZ) and MSZ. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to differentiate them. Orthogonal partial least squares-discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA) was applied to screen different compounds between SZ and MSZ, and 32 different compounds were selected. Then a pharmacodynamic test to investigate their protective effect against myocardial ischaemia was carried out. The results demonstrated that the protective effect of MSZ was better than that of SZ on the same dose. Finally, the chemical basis for the protective effect provided by MSZ against myocardial ischaemia was speculated based on correlation analysis. Taken together, all these results suggest that phenylpropanoids, organic acids, tannins, and flavonoids might be the chemical basis of MSZ protecting against myocardial ischaemia.