Establishment of thrombin affinity column (TAC)-HPLC-MS/MS method for screening direct thrombin inhibitors from Radix Salviae Miltiorrhiae

In order to develop an affinity HPLC method for screening direct thrombin inhibitors from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), thrombin was immobilized on the glutaraldehyde-modified amino silica gel and was used as thrombin stationary phase. A thrombin affinity column (TAC) was made by packing the thrombin stationary phase into a bare column (2.0 * 1.0 mm, i.d.). The direct thrombin inhibitors could be screened through this TAC column. For the purpose of improvement of the discovery efficiency, a TAC-HPLC-MS/MS system was used to screen thrombin inhibitors from Radix Salviae Miltiorrhiae (RSM), a famous traditional Chinese medicine. After optimization of all the conditions, cryptotanshinone (Cry), dihydrotanshinone I (Dih-I) and tanshinone IIA (Tan-IIA) were screened out and identified as potential active components. The anticoagulant effects of these three compounds were tested by anticoagulant experiments in vitro. Furthermore, the interaction of three compounds with thrombin was studied by molecular docking. The result shows they have the potential to be used as preventive drugs. In short, this method can be used to screen anticoagulant drugs from traditional Chinese medicine, which provides convenience for screening anticoagulant drugs.