Discrimination of Lycium chinense and L. barbarum Based on Metabolite Analysis and Hepatoprotective Activity

Min Ji Ryu, Minjeong Kim, Moongi Ji, Chaeyoung Lee, Inho Yang, Seong Bin Hong, Jungwook Chin, Eun Kyoung Seo, Man Jeong Paik, Kyung Min Lim, Sang Jip Nam

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Lycii Fructus is a traditional medicine used to prevent liver and kidney diseases, which commonly derives from Lycium chinense and Lycium barbarum. Here, the extracts and ethyl acetate-soluble fractions of L. chinense fruits exhibited better hepatoprotective effects than those of L. barbarum, which was likely due to differences in their composition. Therefore, GC-MS and HPLC analyses were conducted to characterize the metabolite differences between L. chinense and L. barbarum. Based on amino acid (AA) and phenolic acid (PA) profiling, 24 AAs and 9 PAs were identified in the two species. Moreover, each species exhibited unique and readily distinguishable AA and PA star graphic patterns. HPLC analysis elucidated composition differences between the ethyl acetate-soluble layers of the two compounds. Further, NMR analysis identified their chemical structures as 4-(2-formyl-5-(hydroxymethyl)-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)butanoic acid and p-coumaric acid. The higher content of 4-(2-formyl-5-(hydroxymethyl)-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)butanoic acid was detected in L. chinense, whereas the content of p-coumaric acid was higher in L. barbarum. Therefore, the differences in the relative contents of these two secondary metabolites in the ethyl acetate-soluble layer of Lycii Fructus could be a good marker to discriminate between L. chinense and L. barbarum.

Original languageEnglish
Article number5835
JournalMolecules
Volume25
Issue number24
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2020

Keywords

  • Lycium barbarum
  • Lycium chinense
  • gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
  • star pattern recognition analysis

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