title: Discrimination of the rare medicinal plant Dendrobium officinale based on naringenin, bibenzyl, and polysaccharides.
abstract: The aim of this study was to establish a method for discriminating Dendrobium officinale from four of its close relatives Dendrobium chrysanthum, Dendrobium crystallinum, Dendrobium aphyllum and Dendrobium devonianum based on chemical composition analysis. We analyzed 62 samples of 24 Dendrobium species. High performance liquid chromatography analysis confirmed that the four low molecular weight compounds 4',5,7-trihydroxyflavanone (naringenin), 3,4-dihydroxy-4',5-dime-thoxybibenzyl (DDB-2), 3',4-dihydroxy-3,5'-dimethoxybibenzyl (gigantol), and 4,4'-dihydroxy-3,3',5-trimethoxybibenzy (moscatilin), were common in the genus. The phenol-sulfuric acid method was used to quantify polysaccharides, and the monosaccharide composition of the polysaccharides was determined by gas chromatography. Stepwise discriminant analysis was used to differentiate among the five closely related species based on the chemical composition analysis. This proved to be a simple and accurate approach for discriminating among these species. The results also showed that the polysaccharide content, the amounts of the four low molecular weight compounds, and the mannose to glucose ratio, were important factors for species discriminant. Therefore, we propose that a chemical analysis based on quantification of naringenin, bibenzyl, and polysaccharides is effective for identifying D. officinale.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Xiaomei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Fangfei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yunqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xuelan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Airong
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chunlan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shunxing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D001593:Benzyl Compounds / Q000032:analysis*; D002138:Calibration; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D031667:Dendrobium / Q000737:chemistry*; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D044950:Flavanones / Q000032:analysis*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D001593:Benzyl Compounds; D044950:Flavanones; D011134:Polysaccharides; C005273:naringenin