Metabolic Discrimination of Rhizoma Coptidis from Different Species Using¹H NMR Spectroscopy and Principal Component Analysis

Abstract

Rhizoma coptidis, a broadly used medicinal plant, originates from the dried rhizomes of three species in Chinese pharmacopoeia, namely, Coptis chinensis Franch, Coptis deltoidea C. Y. Cheng et Hsiao, and Coptis teeta Wall. In this study, a novel approach using (1)H NMR spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis was introduced to differentiate the three species and identify potential metabolic markers for better controlling the quality of rhizoma coptidis. A broad range of metabolites including alkaloids, sugars, organic acids, amino acids, and fatty acids present in rhizoma coptidis were detected by means of (1)H NMR spectroscopy. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the (1)H NMR data set showed a clear separation between all samples by PC1 and PC3, and some metabolites that could be responsible for the discrimination of the three species were identified. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to statistically verify the significance of differences in metabolite levels between species. By combining PCA and ANOVA, significantly higher contents of palmatine, coptisine, epiberberine, columbamine, and fatty acids together with lower contents of jateorrhizine were found in Coptis chinensis, whereas Coptis deltoidea and Coptis teetA showed the highest levels of sucrose and chlorogenic acid, respectively. This study indicates that metabolites of rhizoma coptidis vary with the species and the proposed method is suitable for metabolic fingerprinting analysis to check the genuine origin of rhizoma coptidis.

Coptidis rhizoma and its main bioactive components: recent advances in chemical investigation, quality evaluation and pharmacological activity

“…Quantitative 1 H-NMR (qH-NMR) has been widely used for the analysis of bioactive components in complex plant extracts in recent years [ 54 – 56 ]. qH-NMR has shown some advantages for quantitative analysis over traditional chromatographic methods, such as simple and easy sample preparation and handling, lower reagent consumption, elimination of the need of expensive standard compounds, and shorter analysis time.…”

“…qH-NMR has shown some advantages for quantitative analysis over traditional chromatographic methods, such as simple and easy sample preparation and handling, lower reagent consumption, elimination of the need of expensive standard compounds, and shorter analysis time. Because the C13-H signals of the main alkaloids in 1 H NMR can be easily distinguished from each other, the quantitative determination of the main alkaloids from CR could be achieved by qH-NMR and the 3 species of CR could also be differentiated by 1 H NMR and principal component analysis [ 3 , 56 – 58 ].…”

A Multi-Level Strategy Based on Metabolic and Molecular Genetic Approaches for the Characterization of Different Coptis Medicines Using HPLC-UV and RAD-seq Techniques

“…These constituents display many medicinal properties such as antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities [16,17,18]. In recent years, many analytical methods including high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV), ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H-NMR) have been used to analyze these compounds in Coptis plants [19,20,21]. These studies have shown that their contents are obviously different among different species.…”

Histochemical evaluation of alkaloids in rhizome of Coptis chinensis using laser microdissection and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

“…[33,34] Up to now, quite a few approaches have been reported regarding alkaloid analyses in CR. [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] However, most analyses concerned the alkaloids in either raw materials or specific extracts, but not the distribution in tissues and cells. To our knowledge, histochemical studies of CR for its quality evaluation are rarely found, so CR was set as an example to carry out the study of CMM from different growing areas, focusing on bioactive constituents with their distribution and accumulation rules in anatomical sections.…”

“…Both the Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards and the Chinese Pharmacopeia have also chosen the alkaloids as the major bioactive components to evaluate the quality of this CMM . Up to now, quite a few approaches have been reported regarding alkaloid analyses in CR . However, most analyses concerned the alkaloids in either raw materials or specific extracts, but not the distribution in tissues and cells.…”