Research on Quality Markers of Guizhi Fuling Prescription for Endometriosis Treatment Based on Gray Correlation Analysis Strategy

Guizhi Fuling prescription (GFP), a prestigious prescription of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) recorded in “Jingui Yaolue,” was composed of five Chinese medicines, including Moutan Cortex, Paeoniae Radix Alba, Persicae Semen, Poria Cocos, and Cinnamomi Ramulus. It was used for the treatment of endometriosis, primary dysmenorrhea, and blood stasis for centuries. However, its Quality Markers of treating endometriosis have not been clearly elucidated. In this study, a rapid ultraperformance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS/MS) method was established for Quality Markers investigation on GFP, and a total of 50 potentially bioactive constituents including triterpenoids, paeoniflorin and its derivatives, phenolic acids, and other species were identified based on their retention time, fragmentation pattern, and accurately measured mass value. Furthermore, regularity of recipe composition and gray correlation analysis revealed that all of the characteristic peaks contributed to the treatment of endometriosis. The relative correlation degrees were greater than 0.6. Among them, peaks 1 and 10, which were most closely correlated to the endometriosis, were identified as amygdalin and cinnamic acid. Finally, all of the active ingredients were molecularly docked with proteins associated with endometriosis by Schrodinger method. Among them, amygdalin, cinnamic acid, paeonol, gallic acid, and paeoniflorin had the lower binding energies. It was proposed that these constituents could be directed at Quality Markers for GFP. Thus, the integrated approach describing for revealing Quality Markers of GFP could be expected to provide a method for quality evaluation.