Screening for the extracorporeal coagulation activity quality markers (Q-markers) of dried and stir fried ginger

Ginger is a common condiment that is widely used as Chinese medicine in China and Southeast Asia. Dried ginger and stir fried ginger are two common processed products of ginger, with distinct clinical uses. The aim of this study was to identify the chemical components (quality markers, Q-mark) responsible for the differences in in vitro hemostatic activity between dried and stir fried ginger and to provide a basis for the selection between the two types of ginger in clinical application. In this study, methanolic extracts of dried and stir fried ginger were characterized using UPLC-Q/TOF-MS and then evaluated for in vitro coagulation activity. Spectral effect correlation analysis was used to identify quality markers, while molecular docking simulation was used to evaluate the binding energy between potential active compounds and target proteins. A total of 49 chemical constituents of the ginger extracts were identified using UPLC-Q/TOF-MS, 27 of which were significantly different between the two extracts. A fingerprint of 18 batches of dried and stir fried ginger established that zingiberone, 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 6-shogaol, 10-gingerol, 8-shogaol, and 10-shogaol were common constituents of the two extracts. Results of coagulation assays revealed that dried ginger had anti-coagulation effects, while stir fried ginger had hemostatic effect. Zingiberone, 6-shogaol and 10-shogaol were identified as the active components responsible for the hemostatic effect of Stir fried ginger through multivariate statistical analysis. In addition, molecular docking simulations suggested that these three components bound to Src proteins on platelets. Consequently, 6-gingerol, zingiberone, 6-shogaol and 10-shogaol were selected as quality markers to distinguish between dried and stir fried ginger. These results provide scientific evidence for the establishment of a quality evaluation system for the integrity and specificity of dried and stir fried ginger.