title: Comparative analysis of volatile oils in the stems and roots of Ephedra sinica via GC-MS-based plant metabolomics.
abstract: With a great difference in therapeutic effects of Mahuang (MH, the stems of Ephedra sinica) and Mahuanggen (MHG, the roots of Ephedra sinica), chemical differences between MH and MHG should be investigated. In the present study, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based plant metabolomics was employed to compare volatile oil profiles of MH and MHG. The antioxidant activities of volatile oils from MH and MHG were also compared. 32 differential chemical markers were identified according to the variable importance in the projection (VIP) value of orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and P value of Mann-Whitney test. Among them, chemical markers of tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) and α-terpineol were quantified. Their contents were much higher in most MH samples compared with MHG. The antioxidant assay demonstrated that MH had significantly higher free radical-scavenging activity than MHG. Although MH and MHG derived from the same medicinal plant, there was much difference in their volatile oil profiles. MH samples had significantly higher content of two reported pharmacologically important chemical markers of TMP and α-terpineol, which may account for their different antioxidant activities.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Quality Control and Pharmacovigilance (Ministry of Education), China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China; State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicine, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Meng-Ying
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Medicinal Chemistry, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Bo
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Quality Control and Pharmacovigilance (Ministry of Education), China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China; State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicine, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Quality Control and Pharmacovigilance (Ministry of Education), China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China; State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicine, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Quality Control and Pharmacovigilance (Ministry of Education), China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China; State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicine, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China. Electronic address: zunjianzhangcpu@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Zun-Jian
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Quality Control and Pharmacovigilance (Ministry of Education), China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China; State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicine, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China. Electronic address: fengguoxu@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Feng-Guo
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry*; D029790:Ephedra sinica / Q000737:chemistry*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D055432:Metabolomics; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000737:chemistry*; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D009822:Oils, Volatile
keywords: Antioxidant activity; Ephedra sinica; GC-MS; Plant metabolomics; Volatile oil