Foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv) is cultivated throughout most parts of Shanxi province. Although quite a number of reports have been conducted on the bioactivities of foxtail millet, little information was available on the metabolite differences of the foxtail millet seeds from different cultivation regions. In this study, a systematic study on the metabolite composition of the foxtail millet seed from Shanxi province was conducted by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography combined with electrospray ionization quadrupole/orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry, and 158 compounds were characterized through analysis of mass fragmentation patterns and comparison with the data in the databases and literatures. Then the metabolomic analysis, in combination with heatmap and hierarchical clustering analysis revealed the significant differences between the foxtail millet from northern and southern Shanxi province, which was ascribed to 20 differential metabolites. Then metabolic pathway analysis was performed based on these differential metabolites, and three metabolic pathways were selected as the key contributors. The results showed that foxtail millet from different cultivation regions showed obvious metabolite differences, which was probably related to environmental factors. In addition, the findings also provide an important reference for further research on the functional food development from foxtail millet. Practical applicationsFoxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv) as a staple food among the majority of people, is rich in bioactive nutrients, including free fatty acids, triglycerides, cellulose, protein, vitamins, and polyphenol, et al. The metabolite composition of the foxtail millet seed was investigated systematically and the results showed that the climate conditions can directly affect the metabolite composition of foxtail millets, and provided important reference for the further research on the resource utilization and functional food development from foxtail millet.

Guanxinning injection (GXNI) is widely used in the treatments of cerebral thrombosis, cerebral hemorrhage, sequela, coronary disease, stenocardia, arrhythmia, and so on. For the herbal injections, more components should be characterized and quantified as much as possible to guarantee the drug safety. However, large numbers of the chemical constituents in the GXNI still remain unknown. In this study, ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography‐Q Exactive hybrid quadrupole‐orbitrap high‐resolution accurate mass spectrometry (UHPLC‐Q Orbitrap HRMS), in combination of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), was used to identify the components in GXNI, which led to the identification of 194 compounds. With the aid of solvent partition, more phthalides, diterpenoid quinines, and salvianolic acids were tentatively identified, and minor compounds with the other structural types were also detected. The structural diversity of phthalides and diterpenoid quinones were revealed by the structural network, and six phthalides and 13 diterpenoid quinones were further detected in GXNI with the help of the characteristic fragmentation pattern and structural network. In addition, NMR also revealed the presence of a series of primary metabolites in the GXNI, which could be used as a complimentary approach for the rapid identification of the chemical components in the traditional Chinese medicines (TCM). However, the unknown NMR signals of GXNI needed to be further identified to guarantee the drug safety.