Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in Ephedra saxatilis on the vertical altitude gradient changed in southern Tibet Plateau, China

Abstract

Ephedra is one of the world’s most important plants, used in medicine, plants and ecology. Most Ephedra grows in plain areas and is stable. But the plateau environment is special, with the change of altitude, the variety difference of plateau Ephedra saxatilis is very obvious. E. saxatilis metabolism on the Tibetan Plateau is not only affected by altitude, but also environmental conditions such as climate conditions and different soil components. However, the change mechanism of E. saxatilis alkaloids in special ecological environment is still unclear. Therefore, we analyzed the metabolic and altitude of E. saxatilis species in the Tibetan Plateau. Through the functional analysis of Kyoto Metabolism and Metabolomic Encyclopedia (KEGG), we can determine that the number of E. saxatilis metabolites decreases with the increase of altitude, and there are differences in metabolism among the three mountains. This was confirmed by univariate analysis of the top five metabolic pathways. Based on the analysis of soil and metabolomics, it was found that soil water content was also a factor affecting E. saxatilis metabolism. According to the difference of vertical height gradient, ephedrine and pseudephedrine showed the same change in vertical altitude under different mountains. Ephedrine increased as the altitude gradient increased, and pseudoephedrine decreased as the altitude gradient decreased. Our results provide valuable information for further study of metabolic mechanism and efficacy stability. It provides useful reference for the research of E. saxatilis planting in special area.

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“…Their content varies from one Ephedra species to another, depending on diverse plant growth parameters, such as altitude. It has been observed recently with another species (Ephedra saxatilis) that the ephedrine content increased as the altitude gradient increased, and pseudoephedrine decreased as the altitude gradient decreased [171]. There is also a seasonal variation of the alkaloid content [161].…”

Exploration of chemical components and metabolite synthesis pathways in eight Ephedra species based on HS-GC-MS and UPLC-Q-TOF-MS

“…For methylephedrine content, higher levels are observed in XZ, NMG, SL, SX, WQC, WQM, and WQZ, indicating greater levels in Ephedra from higher altitude areas. Consequently, it is hypothesized that the content of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and alkaloids increases with altitude gradient ( Kitani et al., 2009 ; Guo et al., 2022 ; Lu et al., 2023 ), as illustrated in Supplementary Figures S6 and S7 .…”

“…Geographically, it has been observed that the total alkaloid content of E. sinica and E. equisetina in eastern and central Mongolia is 1.43% higher than that in Ephedra from other regions ( Kitani et al., 2009 ). Additionally, ephedrine levels increase with altitude, while pseudoephedrine levels decrease with altitude ( Lu et al., 2023 ). Thus, variations in the contents and proportions of primary and secondary metabolites among different regions and species of Ephedra reflect differences in their metabolic activities ( Loera et al., 2012 ).…”

DataSheet_1.docx

“…For methylephedrine content, higher levels are observed in XZ, NMG, SL, SX, WQC, WQM, and WQZ, indicating greater levels in Ephedra from higher altitude areas. Consequently, it is hypothesized that the content of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and alkaloids increases with altitude gradient (Kitani et al, 2009;Guo et al, 2022;Lu et al, 2023), as illustrated in Supplementary Figures S6 and S7.…”