Study on major antitumor components in Yinchenhao decoction in vitro and in vivo based on hollow fiber cell fishing coupled with high performance liquid chromatography

•HFCF with HPLC is introduced for screening antitumor components in a formula of YCHD.•HFCF with HPLC can be used for multi-component and multi-target simultaneous study.•Major antitumor components in YCHD are identified in vitro and in vivo.•Relationship of main active components between in vitro and in vivo were correlated.

Hollow fiber cell fishing (HFCF) based on human hepatoma cell HepG-2 or human renal tubular cell ACHN coupled with high performance liquid chromatography/ultraviolet detection (HPLC/UV) was developed and used for simultaneous study of the major antitumor active components in a formula of Yinchenhao decoction (YCHD) in vitro and in vivo, and in its constituent herbs, namely, Artemisia capillaris Thunb, Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, Radix et Rhizoma Rhei in vitro. Before application, chlorogenic acid, geniposide, p-hydroxyacetophenone, crocin and rhein were chosen as model compounds, the various validations, e.g., cell growth and cell viability on the fiber inner wall, binding between fiber active center and component, repeatability of retention time or relative peak area of the active components were investigated. We screened and identified the major antitumor active components of YCHD, verified their synergetic or antagonistic effect, correlated the major active components between in vitro and in vivo and determined major effective components. Our study will serve as a valuable reference in probing the antitumor material basis of YCHD and its three constituent herbs, as well as in identifying novel clinical aspects of traditional Chinese medicines. The results showed that HCFC-HPLC is a simple, rapid, and reliable method that simultaneously researches the interaction between multiple targets and multiple components of herbal medicine.