A high-resolution peak fractionation approach for streamlined screening of nuclear-factor-E2-related factor-2 activators in Salvia miltiorrhiza

• A universal HRPF strategy was developed for discovery of bioactive compounds.
• This strategy realized high-purity peak fraction preparation in one HPLC run.
• HRPF combined with a luciferase reporter gene assay to screen Nrf2 activators.
• 20 diterpene quinones were screened out and unambiguously identified.
• 16 compounds were reported to possess novel Nrf2 activation effect.

Generation of a high-purity fraction library for efficiently screening active compounds from natural products is challenging because of their chemical diversity and complex matrices. In this work, a strategy combining high-resolution peak fractionation (HRPF) with a cell-based assay was proposed for target screening of bioactive constituents from natural products. In this approach, peak fractionation was conducted under chromatographic conditions optimized for high-resolution separation of the natural product extract. The HRPF approach was automatically performed according to the predefinition of certain peaks based on their retention times from a reference chromatographic profile. The corresponding HRPF database was collected with a parallel mass spectrometer to ensure purity and characterize the structures of compounds in the various fractions. Using this approach, a set of 75 peak fractions on the microgram scale was generated from 4 mg of the extract of Salvia miltiorrhiza. After screening by an ARE-luciferase reporter gene assay, 20 diterpene quinones were selected and identified, and 16 of these compounds were reported to possess novel Nrf2 activation activity. Compared with conventional fixed-time interval fractionation, the HRPF approach could significantly improve the efficiency of bioactive compound discovery and facilitate the uncovering of minor active components.