Metabolic profiling investigation of Fritillaria thunbergii Miq. by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry
Ming-Chao Cui a,b, Shao-Jun Chen b, Han-Hua Wang b, Zhao-Hui Li b, Hong-Jiang Chen a,b, Yong Chen a, Hai-Bin Zhou c, Xiang Li a, Jian-Wei Chen a,*
a School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Number 138 Xianlin Road, 210023 Nanjing, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China
b Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhejiang Pharmaceutical College, Number 888 Yinxian Road, 315100 Ningbo, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China
c Ningbo Liwah Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, 315174 Ningbo, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China
Thunberg fritillary bulb (the dry bulbs of Fritillaria thunbergii Miq.), a traditional Chinese Medicine, is widely applied as an expectorant and antitussive. In this investigation, the primary metabolites of bulbs, flowers, leaves, and stems of F. thunbergii were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Principal component analysis, partial least squares-discriminate analysis, orthogonal projection to latent structures-discriminate analysis, and heat map analysis showed that there were dissimilar metabolites, and a negative correlation between amino acids and saccharides in different analytes. Furthermore, carbodiimide, tryptophan, glucose-6-phosphate, xylose, 2-piperidinecarboxylic acid, monoamidomalonic acid, phenylalanine, and histidine were found to play an important role in the plant metabolism net of F. thunbergii.
Keywords: Fritillaria thunbergii Miq., gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, metabolomics