An Integrated LC-MS-Based Strategy for the Quality Assessment and Discrimination of Three Panax Species

Abstract

The quality assessment and discrimination of Panax herbs are very challenging to perform due to the complexity and variability of their chemical compositions. An integrated strategy was established using UHPLC-Q-Exactive/HRMS and HPLC-ESI-MS/MS to achieve an accurate, rapid, and comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis of Panax japonicas (PJ), Panax japonicus var. major (PM), and Panax zingiberensis (PZ). Additionally, discrimination among the three species was explored with partial least squares–discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and orthogonal partial least squares–discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) score plots. A total of 101 compounds were plausibly or unambiguously identified, including 82 from PJ, 78 from PM, and 67 from PZ. Among them, 16 representative ginsenosides were further quantified in three herbs. A clear discrimination between the three species was observed through a multivariate statistical analysis on the quantitative data. Nine compounds that allowed for discrimination between PJ, PM, and PZ were discovered. Notably, ginsenoside Rf (G-Rf), ginsenoside F3 (G-F3), and chikusetsu saponin IV (CS-IV) were the three most important differential compounds. The research indicated that the integrated LC-MS-based strategy can be applied for the quality assessment and discrimination of the three Panax herbs.

Simultaneous Profiling and Holistic Comparison of the Metabolomes among the Flower Buds of Panax ginseng, Panax quinquefolius, and Panax notoginseng by UHPLC/IM-QTOF-HDMSE-Based Metabolomics Analysis

“…Untargeted metabolomics has become a mature approach in holistically exploring the differential components from different chemical groups at the metabolome level, and covers extensive applications in the authentication of TCM. The troublesome issues, such as differentiation among the easily confusing species [7,8], different geographic origins [9], different parts from the same plant [10], different ages [11,12], and different processing technologies [13], can be accomplished by untargeted metabolomics workflows. Untargeted metabolomics is typically performed following four steps: (i) acquisition of metabolic features by direct infusion or chromatography/MS hyphenation techniques; (ii) deconvolution including peak alignment and peak picking generating a peak table; (iii) multivariate statistical analysis by unsupervised or supervised classifiers to unveil the components associated with groups segregation, and (iv) quantitative assay or validation process to rationalize the discovered chemical or biomarkers.…”

Diversity of Ginsenoside Profiles Produced by Various Processing Technologies

“…P. zingiberensis is widely used in folk medicines in China and Myanmar to strengthen the immune response and provide cardiovascular protection [ 41 ]. It exhibits anticancer activity and prevents platelet aggregation because of the presence of a large number of OA-type ginsenosides, such as ginsenoside Ro, chikusetsu saponin-IV (CS-IV) and CS-Iva; PPT-type ginsenosides (Rg1, Re, and F3) are also present in P. zingiberensis at higher concentrations than the PPD-type ginsenosides [ 39 , 42 ]. Zingibroside R1 has also been detected in P. zingiberensis and has a structure similar to the OA-type ginsenoside Ro, although it lacks glucose at the C28 position [ 39 ].…”

A Method to Study the Distribution Patterns for Metabolites in Xylem and Phloem of Spatholobi Caulis

“…As illustrated in Figure 6, more than half of the bioactive constituents investigated in this study showed significant difference between xylem and phloem. Xylem contained a dramatically higher amount (p < 0.05) of catechin (4), epicatechin (6), dihydroquercetin (8), genistin (9), ononin (11), liquiritigenin (12), daidzein (13), calycosin (14), naringenin (15), genistein (16), isoliquiritigenin (18), formononetin (19), medicarpin (20) and biochanin A (22) than the phloem. However, phloem displayed remarkably higher content (p < 0.05) of protocatechuic acid (2).…”

“…Epicatechin (6), rutin (10), kaempferol (17) and formononetin (19) were purchased from the Chinese National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products (Beijing, China). Ononin (11), gallocatechin (1), epigallocatechin (3) and isoliquiritigenin (18) were purchased from Chengdu Chroma Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Chengdu, China). Daidzein (13) and protocatechuic acid (2) were purchased from Shanghai Yuanye Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China).…”

“…The samples were analyzed by orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) to find out the differential constituents which were associated with the sample classifications. T-tests were performed to show the difference of each compound between the two sections of SC [17][18][19][20][21]. The proposed investigation could bring to light the distribution patterns of metabolites in xylem and phloem of SC and provide the basis for exploring the accumulation rule of metabolites in SC.…”