Metabolic fingerprinting for discrimination of DNA-authenticated Atractylodes plants using 1H NMR spectroscopy

Identifying different species of the genus Atractylodes which are commonly used in Chinese and Japanese traditional medicine, using chromatographic approaches can be difficult. ¹H NMR metabolic profiling of DNA-authenticated, archived rhizomes of the genus Atractylodes was performed for genetic and chemical evaluation. The ITS region of the nuclear rDNA was sequenced for five species, A. japonica, A. macrocephala, A. lancea, A. chinensis, and A. koreana. Our samples had nucleotide sequences as previously reported, except that part of the A. lancea cultivated in Japan had a type 5, hybrid DNA sequence. Principal component analysis (PCA) using ¹H NMR spectra of extracts with two solvent systems (CD₃OD, CDCl₃) was performed. When CDCl₃ extracts were utilized, the chemometric analysis enabled the identification and classification of Atractylodes species according to their composition of major sesquiterpene compounds. The ¹H NMR spectra using CD₃OD contained confounding sugar peaks. PCA removal of these peaks gave the same result as that obtained using CDCl₃ and allowed species distinction. Such chemometric methods with multivariate analysis of NMR spectra will be useful for the discrimination of plant species, without specifying the index components and quantitative analysis on multi-components.

Classification of the medicinal plants of the genus Atractylodes using high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array and tandem mass spectrometry detection combined with multivariate statistical analysis

Analytical methods using high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array and tandem mass spectrometry detection were developed for the discrimination of the rhizomes of four Atractylodes medicinal plants: A. japonica, A. macrocephala, A. chinensis, and A. lancea. A quantitative study was performed, selecting five bioactive components, including atractylenolide I, II, III, eudesma-4(14),7(11)-dien-8-one and atractylodin, on twenty-six Atractylodes samples of various origins. Sample extraction was optimized to sonication with 80% methanol for 40 min at room temperature. High-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection was established using a C18 column with a water/acetonitrile gradient system at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, and the detection wavelength was set at 236 nm. Liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry was applied to certify the reliability of the quantitative results. The developed methods were validated by ensuring specificity, linearity, limit of quantification, accuracy, precision, recovery, robustness, and stability. Results showed that cangzhu contained higher amounts of atractylenolide I and atractylodin than baizhu, and especially atractylodin contents showed the greatest variation between baizhu and cangzhu. Multivariate statistical analysis, such as principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis, were also employed for further classification of the Atractylodes plants. The established method was suitable for quality control of the Atractylodes plants.