OBJECTIVE  To establish a dedicated detection method for the adulteration of deer skin derived components in Wuji Baifeng pills by utilizing the characteristic peptide sequences of enzyme cleaved deer skin glue that distinguish it from deer antler gum.

METHODS The characteristic peptide A of deer skin was discovered using sequence alignment technology, and was detected using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS). The chromatographic column was Waters HSS T3(2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.8 μm), acetonitrile as mobile phase A, 0.1% formic acid solution as mobile phase B, gradient elution(0−10 min, 5%→40%A; 10−15 min, 40%→95%A); flow rate of 0.3 mL·min⁻¹; column temperature was 40 ℃; injection volume was 2 μL. The ionization mode was ESI⁺, and multiple reaction monitoring was performed. The deer skin characteristic peptide A(m/z) 401.3→143.0 was selected as the quantitative ion, and m/z 401.3→631.1 was selected as the qualitative ion.

RESULTS The method limit was used to detect 36 batches of Wuji Baifeng pill samples, and the deer skin derived component, deer skin characteristic peptide A, was detected in 15 batches of samples, with an unqualified rate of up to 42%.

CONCLUSION The established method has been validated and has strong specificity, and can be used for the detection of adulteration of deer skin source components in Wuji Baifeng pills.