Background
Panax notoginseng
is a highly valued medicinal herb used widely in China and many Asian countries. Its root and rhizome have long been used for the treatment of cardiovascular and hematological diseases. Imaging the spatial distributions and dynamics of metabolites in heterogeneous plant tissues is significant for characterizing the metabolic networks of
Panax notoginseng
, and this will also provide a highly informative approach to understand the complex molecular changes in the processing of
Panax notoginseng
.
Methods
Here, a high-sensitive MALDI-MS imaging method was developed and adopted to visualize the spatial distributions and spatiotemporal changes of metabolites in different botanical parts of
Panax notoginseng
.
Results
A wide spectrum of metabolites including notoginsenosides, ginsenosides, amino acids, dencichine, gluconic acid, and low-molecular-weight organic acids were imaged in
Panax notoginseng
rhizome and root tissues for the first time. Moreover, the spatiotemporal alterations of metabolites during the steaming of
Panax notoginseng
root were also characterized in this study. And, a series of metabolites such as dencichine, arginine and glutamine that changed with the steaming of
Panax notoginseng
were successfully screened out and imaged.
Conclusion
These spatially-resolved metabolite data not only enhance our understanding of the
Panax notoginseng
metabolic networks, but also provide direct evidence that a serious of metabolic alterations occurred during the steaming of
Panax notoginseng
.