title: Rapid identification of plant materials by wooden-tip electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and a strategy to differentiate the bulbs of Fritillaria.
abstract: The counterfeit plant products, especially by using incorrect plant materials in pharmaceutical industry, have become a global problem. The plant materials belonging to closely related species but differing in medicinal properties are difficult to be identified. Here, a novel and generally applicable approach to identify the sources of plant materials was developed, which was based on the use of wooden-tip electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (wooden-tip ESI-MS) and multivariate statistical analysis of unidentified MS features (non-targeted). Using this approach, six officinal species of Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus had been successfully differentiated. In addition, Fritillariae Pallidiflorae Bulbus, a common adulterant of Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus, was also identified by using the strategy reported here. Compared with DNA phylogenetic trees, our approach provided finer resolution in distinguishing the closely related Fritillaria species. By combining wooden-tip ESI-MS and multivariate statistical analysis, a useful method was developed here for rapid identification of the sources of herbs, which showed promising perspectives in tracking the supply chain of pharmaceutical suppliers.
authors.affiliation: Division of Life Science and Center for Chinese Medicine, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay Road, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Gui-Zhong
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.affiliation: Division of Life Science and Center for Chinese Medicine, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay Road, Hong Kong, China; State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine and Molecular Pharmacology (Incubation), Shenzhen Research Institute of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen 518057, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, No. 24 Tongjia Lane, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Zi-Qi
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Division of Life Science and Center for Chinese Medicine, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay Road, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Yin Ching
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.affiliation: Division of Life Science and Center for Chinese Medicine, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay Road, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Tina Ting-Xia
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, No. 24 Tongjia Lane, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Food Safety and Technology Research Centre, State Key Laboratory of Chirosciences and Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China; State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine and Molecular Pharmacology (Incubation), Shenzhen Research Institute of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen 518057, China. Electronic address: zhongping.yao@polyu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Zhong-Ping
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Division of Life Science and Center for Chinese Medicine, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay Road, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: botsim@ust.hk.
authors.forename: Karl W K
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Tsim
mesh_terms: D058110:Counterfeit Drugs; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000032:analysis*; D031410:Fritillaria / Q000737:chemistry*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000737:chemistry*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D058110:Counterfeit Drugs; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal
keywords: Chinese herbs; Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus; High throughput; Mass spectrometry; Metabolomics; Wooden-tip electrospray ionization