Application of Identification and Evaluation Techniques for Ethnobotanical Medicinal Plant of Genus Panax: A Review

Effects of plants-associated microbiota on cultivation and quality of Chinese herbal medicines

Microbial resource influences the life activities of medicinal plants from several perspectives. Endophytes, rhizosphere microorganisms, and other environmental microorganisms play essential roles in medicinal plant growth and development, plant yield, and clinical efficacy. The microbiota can influence the biosynthesis of active compounds in medicinal plants by stimulating specific metabolic pathways. They induce host plants to improve their resistance to environmental stresses by accumulating secondary metabolites. Microorganisms can interact with their host plants to produce long-term, targeted selection results and improve their ability to adapt to the environment. Due to the interdependence and interaction between microorganisms and medicinal plants, Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) quality is closely related to the associated microorganisms. This review summarizes the relationship between medicinal plants and their associated microorganisms, including their species, distribution, life activities, and metabolites. Microorganisms can aid in quality control, improve the efficacy of medicinal plants, and provide markers for identifying the origin and storage time of CHMs. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between microorganisms and medicinal plants will help to control the quality of CHMs from different perspectives.

Species discrimination of multiple botanical origins of Fritillaria species based on infrared spectroscopy, thin layer chromatography-image analysis and untargeted metabolomics

BACKGROUND

Fritillaria Bulbus (FB), a precious medicinal herb renowned for its heat-clearing, lung-moistening, cough-relieving and phlegm-eliminating effects. In pursuit of profits, unscrupulous merchants have engaged in the substitution or adulteration of valuable varieties with cheaper alternatives. It is, therefore, urgent to develop effective technical approaches to identify FBs from adulterants.

METHODS

This paper employed infrared spectroscopy (IR), thin layer chromatography-image analysis (TLC-IA), and untargeted metabolomics techniques to discriminate ten species of FBs.

RESULTS

Five species of FBs were successfully differentiated using mid-infrared spectroscopy. Furthermore, the power of TLC-IA technology allowed the differentiation of five species of FBs and two origins of FCBs (Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus). Remarkably, through the application of untargeted metabolomics technique, the precise discrimination of five species of FBs, as well as three origins of FCBs were accomplished. Moreover, a comprehensive identification of 101 markers that reliably distinguished diverse FBs was achieved through the employment of untargeted metabolomics technique.

CONCLUSION

The investigation presented powerful means of detection for assuring the quality control of Fritillaria herbs.

In Vitro Cultivation and Ginsenosides Accumulation in Panax ginseng: A Review

The use of in vitro tissue culture for herbal medicines has been recognized as a valuable source of botanical secondary metabolites. The tissue culture of ginseng species is used in the production of bioactive compounds such as phenolics, polysaccharides, and especially ginsenosides, which are utilized in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. This review paper focuses on the in vitro culture of Panax ginseng and accumulation of ginsenosides. In vitro culture has been applied to study organogenesis and biomass culture, and is involved in direct organogenesis for rooting and shooting from explants and in indirect morphogenesis for somatic embryogenesis via the callus, which is a mass of disorganized cells. Biomass production was conducted with different types of tissue cultures, such as adventitious roots, cell suspension, and hairy roots, and subsequently on a large scale in a bioreactor. This review provides the cumulative knowledge of biotechnological methods to increase the ginsenoside resources of P. ginseng. In addition, ginsenosides are summarized at enhanced levels of activity and content with elicitor treatment, together with perspectives of new breeding tools which can be developed in P. ginseng in the future.

Determination of Dencichine in Panax notoginseng in the Forest and Field Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Dencichine is a nonprotein amino acid, an effective ingredient in Panax notoginseng with hemostatic and anti-inflammatory effects. There are few studies on the effects of regions and cultivation models on the accumulation of dencichine. In the current study, the content of dencichine in P. notoginseng collected from its global cultivation and trading center Yunnan, China, (>640 samples) was determined using an optimized high-performance liquid chromatography method coupled with a diode array detector but without derivatization. The recovery rate of this method was 80-110%, the relative standard deviation was <10%, and the limits of detection and quantification were 0.003% (w/w) and 0.01% (w/w), respectively. The content of dencichine in each part of P. notoginseng was as follows: rootlets (39.59%) > main roots (29.91%) > leaves (16.21%) > stems (14.29%). For leaves, P. notoginseng in the forest (5.52 ± 2.26 mg/g) was significantly higher than that in the field (3.93 ± 1.72 mg/g) but opposite for main roots. The origins and altitudes made different contributions to the accumulation of dencichine in P. notoginseng. This study provides an effective analytical method to determine dencichines in various parts of P. notoginseng from different origins and altitudes and supports quality control and product development of P. notoginseng.

Untargeted Metabolomic Analysis and Chemometrics to Identify Potential Marker Compounds for the Chemical Differentiation of Panax ginseng, P. quinquefolius, P. notoginseng, P. japonicus, and P. japonicus var. major

The Panax L. genus is well-known for many positive physiological effects on humans, with major species including P. ginseng, P. quinquefolius, P. notoginseng, P. japonicus, and P. japonicus var. major, the first three of which are globally popular. The combination of UPLC-QTOF-MS and chemometrics were developed to profile "identification markers" enabling their differentiation. The establishment of reliable biomarkers that embody the intrinsic metabolites differentiating species within the same genus is a key in the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. In this work, the metabolomic differences among these five species were shown, which is critical to ensure their appropriate use. Consequently, 49 compounds were characterized, including 38 identified robust biomarkers, which were mainly composed of saponins and contained small amounts of amino acids and fatty acids. VIP (projection variable importance) was used to identify these five kinds of ginseng. In conclusion, by illustrating the similarities and differences between the five species of ginseng with the use of an integrated strategy of combining UPLC-QTOF-MS and multivariate analysis, we provided a more efficient and more intelligent manner for explaining how the species differ and how their secondary metabolites affect this difference. The most important biomarkers that distinguished the five species included Notoginsenoside-R₁, Majonoside R₁, Vinaginsenoside R₁₄, Ginsenoside-Rf, and Ginsenoside-Rd.

Application of Analytical Technologies in the Discrimination and Authentication of Herbs from Fritillaria: A Review

Medicinal plants of Fritillaria are widely distributed in numerous countries around the world and possess excellent antitussive and expectorant effects. In particular, Fritillariae Bulbus (FB) as a precious traditional medicine has thousands of years of medical history in China. Herbs of Fritillaria have a high market value and demand while limited by harsh growing circumstances and scarce wild resources. As a consequence, fraudulent behaviors are regularly engaged by the unscrupulous merchants in an attempt to reap greater profits. It is of an urgent need to evaluate the quality of Fritillaria herbs and their products using various analytical instruments and techniques. This review has scrutinized approximately 160 articles from 1995 to 2022 published on the investigation of Fritillaria herbs and related herbal products. The botanical classification of genus Fritillaria, types of counterfeits, technologies applied for differentiating Fritillaria species were comprehensively summarized and discussed in the current review. Molecular and chromatographic identification were the dominant technologies in the authentication of Fritillaria herbs. Additionally, we brought some potential and promising technologies and analytical strategies into attention, which are worthy attempting in the future researches. This review could conduce to excellent reference value for further investigations of the authenticity assessment of Fritillaria species.

Review of Recent Modern Analytical Technology Combined with Chemometrics Approach Researches on Mushroom Discrimination and Evaluation

Mushroom is a macrofungus with precious fruiting body, as a food, a tonic, and a medicine, human have discovered and used mushrooms for thousands of years. Nowadays, mushroom is also a "super food" recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and favored by consumers. Discrimination of mushroom including species, geographic origin, storage time, etc., is an important prerequisite to ensure their edible safety and commodity quality. Moreover, the effective evaluation of its chemical composition can help us better understand the nutritional properties of mushrooms. Modern analytical technologies such as chromatography, spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, etc., are widely used in the discrimination and evaluation researches of mushrooms, and chemometrics is an effective means of scientifically processing the multidimensional information hidden in these analytical technologies. This review will outline the latest applications of modern analytical technology combined with chemometrics in qualitative and quantitative analysis and quality control of mushrooms in recent years. Briefly describe the basic principles of these technologies, and the analytical processes of common chemometrics in mushroom researches will be summarized. Finally, the limitations and application prospects of chromatography, spectroscopy and mass spectrometry technology are discussed in mushroom quality control and evaluation.

Practical Qualitative Evaluation and Screening of Potential Biomarkers for Different Parts of Wolfiporia cocos Using Machine Learning and Network Pharmacology

Wolfiporia cocos is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine and dietary supplement. Artificial intelligence algorithms use different types of data based on the different strategies to complete multiple tasks such as search and discrimination, which has become a trend to be suitable for solving massive data analysis problems faced in network pharmacology research. In this study, we attempted to screen the potential biomarkers in different parts of W. cocos from the perspective of measurability and effectiveness based on fingerprint, machine learning, and network pharmacology. Based on the conclusions drawn from the results, we noted the following: (1) exploratory analysis results showed that differences between different parts were greater than those between different regions, and the partial least squares discriminant analysis and residual network models were excellent to identify Poria and Poriae cutis based on Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy spectra; (2) from the perspective of effectiveness, the results of network pharmacology showed that 11 components such as dehydropachymic acid and 16α-hydroxydehydrotrametenolic acid, and so on had high connectivity in the “component-target-pathway” network and were the main active components. (3) From a measurability perspective, through orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis and the variable importance projection > 1, it was confirmed that three components, namely, dehydrotrametenolic acid, poricoic acid A, and pachymic acid, were the main potential biomarkers based on high-performance liquid chromatography. (4) The content of the three components in Poria was significantly higher than that in Poriae cutis. (5) The integrated analysis showed that dehydrotrametenolic acid, poricoic acid A, and pachymic acid were the potential biomarkers for Poria and Poriae cutis. Overall, this approach provided a novel strategy to explore potential biomarkers with an explanation for the clinical application and reasonable development and utilization in Poria and Poriae cutis.

Application of Large-Scale Molecular Prediction for Creating the Preferred Precursor Ions List to Enhance the Identification of Ginsenosides from the Flower Buds of Panax ginseng

This work was designed to evaluate the coverage of data-dependent acquisition (DDA) extensively utilized in the untargeted metabolite/component identification in the food sciences and pharmaceutical analysis. Using saponins from the flower buds of Panax ginseng (PGF) as an example, precursor ions list (PIL)-including DDA on a Q-Orbitrap mass spectrometer could enable higher coverage than the other four MS² acquisition approaches in characterizing PGF ginsenosides. A "Virtual Library of Ginsenoside" containing 13,536 ginsenoside molecules was established by C-language-programmed large-scale molecular prediction, which in combination with mass defect filtering could create a new PIL involving 1859 PGF saponin precursors. We could newly obtain the MS² spectra of at least 17 components and characterize 36 ginsenosides with unknown masses, among the 164 compounds identified from PGF. Conclusively, a molecular-prediction-oriented PIL in DDA can assist to discover more potentially novel molecules benefiting to the development of functional foods and new drugs.

Multi-Element Analysis and Origin Discrimination of Panax notoginseng Based on Inductively Coupled Plasma Tandem Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS)

Panax notoginseng is an important functional health product, and has been used worldwide because of a wide range of pharmacological activities, of which the taproot is the main edible or medicinal part. However, the technologies for origin discrimination still need to be further studied. In this study, an ICP-MS/MS method for the accurate determination of 49 elements was established, whereby the instrumental detection limits (LODs) were between 0.0003 and 7.716 mg/kg, whereas the quantification limits (LOQs) were between 0.0011 and 25.7202 mg/kg, recovery of the method was in the range of 85.82% to 104.98%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were lower than 10%. Based on the content of multi-element in P. notoginseng (total of 89 mixed samples), the discriminant models of origins and cultivation models were accurately determined by the neural networks (prediction accuracy was 0.9259 and area under ROC curve was 0.9750) and the support vector machine algorithm (both 1.0000), respectively. The discriminant models established in this study could be used to support transparency and traceability of supply chains of P. notoginseng and thus avoid the fraud of geographic identification.

Multi-level fingerprinting and cardiomyocyte protection evaluation for comparing polysaccharides from six Panax herbal medicines

The role of polysaccharides in quality control of ginseng is underestimated. Large-scale comparison on the polysaccharides of Panax ginseng (PG), P. quinquefolius (PQ), P. notoginseng (PN), Red ginseng (RG), P. japonicus (ZJS), and P. japonicus var. major (ZZS), was performed by both chemical and biological approaches. Holistic fingerprinting at polysaccharide and the hydrolyzed oligosaccharide and monosaccharide levels utilized various chromatography methods, while OGD and OGD/R models on H9c2 cells were introduced to evaluate the protective effects on cell viability and mitochondrial function. Polysaccharides from six ginseng species exhibited remarkable content difference (RG > PG/ZZS/ZJS/PQ > PN), but weak differentiations in molecular weight distribution and oligosaccharide profiles, while Glc and GalA were richer for monosaccharide compositions of PG and RG polysaccharides, respectively. RG polysaccharides (25/50/100 μg/mL) showed significant cardiomyocyte protection by regulating mitochondrial functions. These new evidences may provide support for the supplementary role of polysaccharides in quality control of ginseng.

Fraud Detection of Herbal Medicines Based on Modern Analytical Technologies Combine with Chemometrics Approach: A Review

Fraud in herbal medicines (HMs), commonplace throughout human history, is significantly related to medicinal effects with sometimes lethal consequences. Major HMs fraud events seem to occur with a certain regularity, such as substitution by counterfeits, adulteration by addition of inferior production-own materials, adulteration by chemical compounds, and adulteration by addition of foreign matter. The assessment of HMs fraud is in urgent demand to guarantee consumer protection against the four fraudulent activities. In this review, three analysis platforms (targeted, non-targeted, and the combination of non-targeted and targeted analysis) were introduced and summarized. Furthermore, the integration of analysis technology and chemometrics method (e.g., class-modeling, discrimination, and regression method) have also been discussed. Each integration shows different applicability depending on their advantages, drawbacks, and some factors, such as the explicit objective analysis or the nature of four types of HMs fraud. In an attempt to better solve four typical HMs fraud, appropriate analytical strategies are advised and illustrated with several typical studies. The article provides a general workflow of analysis methods that have been used for detection of HMs fraud. All analysis technologies and chemometrics methods applied can conduce to excellent reference value for further exploration of analysis methods in HMs fraud.

Geographical traceability and multielement analysis of edible and medicinal fungi: Taking Wolfiporia cocos (F.A. Wolf) Ryvarden and Gilb. as an example

Different geographical environment has a certain influence on the accumulation of fungi elements and chemical components. However, our knowledge is limited to elucidate the fungi elements in response to heterogeneous environmental and the quality differences among different habitats. Here, multielement analysis, FTIR spectrum, and feature-level fusion technique combined with chemometrics were used to study Wolfiporia cocos from different geographical areas, different sampling sites and different altitude sources. From the results, (1) there is significant difference in element content of samples from different sampling sites and no positive correlation with geographical ranges. (2) There is a correlation between elevation and elements, and relatively low elevation (<1,800 m) is conducive to the enrichment of elements. (3) From the perspective of elements, the W. cocos in Yuxi have relatively better quality. (4) FTIR and feature-level models can well realize origin identification. The SVM models are better than the PLS-DA models, and the feature-level model is better than the single FTIR models. In summary, this study demonstrated that the developed method was reliable and could realize the genuineness evaluation and origin identification of W. cocos. The results have implications for the establishment of the technology system of geographical traceability and the development of high-quality geographical indication products of W. cocos.