The chemical profiles of four ginseng roots samples from three species of ginseng (Panax quinquefolius, Panax ginseng and Panax notoginseng) and two commercial ginseng products containing P. quinquefolius and red P. ginseng were compared using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/QTOF-MS). Principal component analysis allowed a holistic approach in showing distinct chemical differences between the three ginseng species and correct classification of the two commercial products to their respective species. Further investigation of the chemical profile variations yielded ten main markers that were distinct for the three species. This study shows the potential of chemical profiling for the classification of complex natural product samples, such as ginseng, and application to commercial products sold in the market. This methodology can assist the industry in authenticating the various species of ginseng and providing a quick assessment of the quality of commercial ginseng products.
Keywords: metabolic profiling, natural product, mass spectrometry, authentication, LC-MS
IntroductionGinseng (Panax species, Araliaceae family) has been well-used and studied in traditional Chinese medicine and has been widely adapted in North America as a herbal supplement with high growth in sales every year. 1 Ginseng has been known for its therapeutic effects on the endocrine, cardiovascular, immune, central nervous system and also reported to possess anti-cancer properties.2,3 Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer (Asian or Korean ginseng), Panax quinquefolius L. (American ginseng) and Panax notoginseng (Burk) F. H. Chen (Tienchi or Sanchi, notoginseng) are the most commonly used and studied ginseng herbs.1 Due to the continual increases in sales, there has been an increase in concern of adulteration of herbal products sold in the market. 4 Practices including misidentification of herbal species and the addition of unlabeled pharmaceuticals 5 can cause harm to the consumer and potential mistrust in the herbal and traditional medicine industry. Specifically for ginseng, intentional substitution of the wrong species in ginseng products in the market is a known issue. 6 To address this growing concern, many analytical methods have been developed to authenticate and classify the various species of ginseng.Morphological examinations 7 to genetic testing 8 has been commonly used to authenticate different species of ginseng. However, certain products in the market can be packaged ground into powder or prepared differently (extracts) which can decrease the effectiveness of these methods. Chemical methods using analytical instrumentation such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array, 9-11 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, 2,12,13 and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) 14 have also been used to profile ginseng species. Many of these studies have focused on identifying key chemical components in the various ginseng species for authenticatio...