Discrimination of the Geographical Origin of the Lateral Roots of Aconitum carmichaelii Using the Fingerprint, Multicomponent Quantification, and Chemometric Methods

Abstract

Fuzi is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine developed from the lateral roots of Aconitum carmichaelii Debx. It is rich in alkaloids that display a wide variety of bioactivities, and it has a strong cardiotoxicity and neurotoxicity. In order to discriminate the geographical origin and evaluate the quality of this medicine, a method based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for multicomponent quantification and chemical fingerprint analysis. The measured results of 32 batches of Fuzi from three different regions were evaluated by chemometric analysis, including similarity analysis (SA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The content of six representative alkaloids of Fuzi (benzoylmesaconine, benzoylhypaconine, benzoylaconine, mesaconitine, hypaconitine, and aconitine) were varied by geographical origin, and the content ratios of the benzoylmesaconine/mesaconitine and diester-type/monoester-type diterpenoid alkaloids may be potential traits for classifying the geographical origin of the medicine. In the HPLC fingerprint similarity analysis, the Fuzi from Jiangyou, Sichuan, was distinguished from the Fuzi from Butuo, Sichuan, and the Fuzi from Yunnan. Based on the HCA and PCA analyses of the content of the six representative alkaloids, all of the batches were classified into two categories, which were closely related to the plants’ geographical origins. The Fuzi samples from Jiangyou were placed into one category, while the Fuzi samples from Butuo and Yunnan were put into another category. The LDA analysis provided an efficient and satisfactory prediction model for differentiating the Fuzi samples from the above-mentioned three geographical origins. Thus, the content of the six representative alkaloids and the fingerprint similarity values were useful markers for differentiating the geographical origin of the Fuzi samples.

Functional identification of the terpene synthase family involved in diterpenoid alkaloids biosynthesis in Aconitum carmichaelii

“…A. carmichaelii was acquired from Jiangyou, Sichuan Province, which is the genuine location for “wu tou” and “fu zi” material 29 , in June 2018. The plant was grown in a greenhouse until February 2019.…”

Aqueous extracts of Aconite promote thermogenesis in rats with hypothermia via regulating gut microbiota and bile acid metabolism

“…S1C and D, respectively. Since the qualitative analysis of AA showed that most of the components were alkaloids, and the major bioactive components of aconite were alkaloids [ 29 ], we further quantitatively analyzed the main alkaloids in the AA. The contents of major alkaloids in AA (compared to the weight of crude Aconite) were hypaconitine (0.83 mg/kg), mesaconitine (0.17 mg/kg), benzoylmesaconine (146.90 mg/kg), benzoylhypaconine (74.13 mg/kg), and benzoylaconine (25.56 mg/kg).…”

“…Aconite contains alkaloids, flavonoids, polysaccharides, and other compounds [ 12 ]. Among all these compounds, alkaloids are regarded as the major bioactive compounds [ 29 ]. Studies have demonstrated that alkaloids from Aconite can stimulate thermogenesis via acting on mitochondria directly [ 13 ].…”

“…Given that the major bioactive components of aconite were alkaloids, we quantitatively analyzed the main alkaloids in the AA. The method for quantitative analysis of alkaloids in AA was the same as our previous study [ 29 ].…”

Determining Pharmacological Mechanisms of Chinese Incompatible Herbs Fuzi and Banxia in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Systems Pharmacology‐Based Study

“…A total of 34 identified compounds were imported into the DrugBank database [ 19 ] to delineate the relevant targets of FB. According to one relevant literature report, 5 representative alkaloids of Fuzi, aconitine (AC), mesaconitine (MA), benzoylaconine (BAC), benzoylmesaconine (BMA), and benzoylhypaconine (BHA), which were not selected out from the DrugBank were also included in the scope of the study [ 20 ]. They are also listed in Table 1 .…”