Enhanced chemiluminescent HRP substrate was from EMD Millipore (Temecula, CA, USA). Five standard compounds (i.e., gallic acid, catechin, albiflorin, paeoniflorin and benzoylpaeoniflorin) with exceeded 98% purity were from Sichuan Weikeqi Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Sichuan, China). Methanol, formic acid and acetonitrile were bought from Sigma-Aldrich (Darmstadt, Germany).

All chemicals and reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (USA) unless otherwise specified. Reference standards of mangiferin, paeoniflorin, gallic acid, cinnamaldehyde and aconitine were purchased from Weikeqi Biotech (China), and the purity of all the compounds is more than 98% analyzed by HPLC. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits for IL-1β, IL-6 and MCP-1 were purchased from R&D Systems (USA).

D-(-)-Fructose, gallic acid, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, loganic acid, chlorogenic acid, gentiopicroside, ferulic acid, isoorientin, liquiritigenin, liquiritin, nodakenin, rutin, 20-hydroxyecdysone, senkyunolide I, hydroxysafflor yellow A, quercetin, salicylic acid, kaempferol, isoliquiritigenin, amentoflavone, E-ligustilide, kaempferide, isoimperatorin, levistolide A, Z-ligustilide (purity > 98%) were purchased from Weikeqi Biotechnology Co., Ltd (Chengdu, China). CFA was purchased from Chondrex, Inc (Woodinville, USA).

Benzoyloxypaeoniorin, galloylpaeoniorin, mudanpioside C, oxypaeoniora, benzoylpaeoniorin, apiopaeonoside

and paeonolide were purchased from Chroma Biotechnology

Co. Gallic acid and liquiritin apioside were purchased from

Sichuan Weikeqi Biotechnology Co. Paeoniorin, albiorin,

liquiritin, ononin, isoliquiritigenin and glycyrrhizic acid were

obtained from Chengdu Herbpurify Co. Arbutin was obtained

from Aladdin

The HPLC procedure was as follows: 0–2 min, 15% B; 2–10 min, 50% B; 10–30 min, 90% B; 30–40 min, 100% B. The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min at 35 °C, and the infection volume was 20 μL. Seven pure phenolic compounds, including gallic acid, ethyl gallate, rosavin, rutin, quercetin, herbacetin and kaempferol, were used as the reference standards for the identification of the active components in EE. All the standards were purchased from Sichuan Weikeqi Biological Technology Co., Ltd. The quantification of the flavonoids was obtained by using an external standard method

All rats were housed in a controlled environment (temperature,

22 °C ± 2 °C; humidity, 50% ± 10%; lights, 12 h light/dark cycle).

After 1- week acclimation with free access to food and water, 18

rats were randomly divided into 3 groups（n=6 in each group）

according to the body weight: a control group, a dextra sulfate

sodium（DSS）-induced model group and a GA（obtained from

Sichuan Weikeqi Biological Technology CO., LTD） treatment group.

Colitis in DSS-induced group and GA treatment group was

established through

Purified water was purchased from Wahaha(Zhejiang, Hangzhou, China). The reference standards astragalin, gallic acid, quinic acid, chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid were purchased from the Sichuan Weikeqi Biological Technology Co., Ltd (Beijing,China); adenosine, cordycepin, deoxyuridine, hypoxanthine, adenine, uridine, guanosine, ginsenoside Rg1, ginsenoside Rb1, ginsenoside Rf, ginsenoside Rb2 were purchased from Shanghai Shifeng Biotechnology Co., Ltd(Shanghai, China)

Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex was purchased from Shanxi HongSen Traditional Chinese Medicine Co., Ltd. (Xian, China); Asini Corii Colla was purchased from Shandong Jishui Ejiao Co., Ltd. (Heze, China). Zingiberone, ferulic acid, palmatine, jatrorrhizine, berberine hydrochloride, gallic acid, ellagic acid, zingerone and ligustilide had a purity of 98%, as determined by HPLC or GC, and were provided by Chengdu Weikeqi Biotechnology Co. Ltd. (Chengdu, China). Methanol and acetonitrile were purchased from Merck & Co. Inc. (Darmstadt, Germany).

Three ref-erence standards of albiflorin, LQ, and PF were purchasedfrom Pufei De Biotech (Sichuan, China). Five referencestandards of chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, levistolide A,z-ligustilide (ZLS), and licoricone (LCC) were bought fromWeiKeQi Biotech (Sichuan, China). Neochlorogenic acidand cryptochlorogenic acid were supplied by ChengduBiopurify Phytochemicals (Sichuan, China).

The reference standard of glucose, gallic acid and corilagin (>98% purity) were purchased from Sichuan Weikeqi Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (Chengdu, China). Methanol and acetonitrile, both HPLC grade, were purchased from Merck. Phosphoric acid and formic acid, HPLC grade, were purchased from Aladin Chemistry Co., Ltd.

The chemical reference standards, gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, methyl gallate, corilagin, chebulagic acid, ellagic acid, and chebulinic acid were provided by Sichuan Weikeqi Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (Chengdu, China). Formic acid (HPLC grade) was bought from Aladdin Industrial Corporation (Shanghai, China). Acetonitrile (HPLC grade) and olive oil

TG samples were purchased from Xinjiang (Shihezi, China) and authenticated by Jinsong Zhou (Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Botany, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China). Reference standards of gallic acid (batch number: 150805; purity 99.0%) and methyl gallate (batch number: 150926; purity 99.0%) were purchased from Weikeqi Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (Chengdu, Sichuan, China). Caffeic acid (batch number: 110885-200102; purity 98.5%), which was used as internal standard (IS), was purchased from the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control

Silymarin was purchased from Madaus (Cologne, Germany). The chemical reference standards, gallic acid, corilagin, and ellagic acid were purchased from Sichuan Weikeqi Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (Chengdu, China). Commercial diagnostic kits of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and hydroxyproline (Hyp) were obtained from Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute (Nanjing, China).

All 22 standard compounds used in this study (synephrine, gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, geniposide, peimine, peiminine, albiflorin, paeoniflorin, rutin, narirutin, crocin, naringin, hesperidin, neohesperidin, didymin, quercetin, benzoylpaeoniflorin, paeonol, sinensetin, nobiletin, hepta-3, and alisol B 23-acetate) were supplied by Weikeqi Biotechnology Co., Ltd (Chengdu, China), and the purity were all greater than 98%. UDCA administrated as positive control was supplied by Shanghai Aladdin Biochemical Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). ANIT and medical-grade soybean oil were purchased from Shanghai Aladdin Biochemical Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China).

Rat interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit was obtained from Multi Science Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Hangzhou, China). Reference standards of ferulic acid, atractylodin, tanshinone, astragaloside, hyperoside, loganin, gallic acid, morroniside, allantoin, oleanic acid, ginsenoside Rb1, ginsenoside Re, ginsenoside Rg1, paeoniflorin, vaccarin, pyrrolidinium, leonurine, and catalpol were obtained from Sichuan Weikeqi Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (Sichuan, China).

Twenty-six compounds were used as the reference standards in this work. Isoquercitrin (1), quercitrin (2), (-)-catechin hydrate (14), gallic acid (25), and vanillic acid (26), were from Sichuan WeiKeqi Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (Chengdu, China).

Folin-Ciocalteureagent,gallic acid, catechinand otherpolyphenolicstandardswere purchasedfrom SichuanWeikeqiBiologicalTechnologyCo., Ltd. (China).1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH),2,2’-azinobis(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfonicacid)diammoniumsalt(ABTS),2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-s-triazine(TPTZ),trolox,α-amylase,α-glucosidaseand 4-nitrophenyl-α-D-gluco-pyranoside(α-PNPG)wereobtainedfromSigma–Aldrich(USA).