3.1 Optimization of elution time in UPLC
The chemical components in Laggera pterodonta are complex, and the ideal chromatographic separation effect may not be achieved by isogradient elution or conventional high performance liquid chromatography. Therefore, in this study, UPLC with better separation effect was selected for fingerprint determination. In this study, 0–30.0 min (5%–95% methanol) was first chosen, but within 10–15 min, most of the compounds in Laggera pterodonta were not separated.
In order to better effectively separate the compounds in Laggera pterodonta, the separation effects of 0~55.0 min (5% ~ 95% methanol) and 0~70.0 min (5% ~ 95% methanol) were further compared. The results are shown in Figure 2, the gradient of 0~70.0 min (5%~95% methanol) was better than other gradients for the separation of compounds in Laggera pterodonta, but it takes a long time and still does not achieve a good baseline separation for some of the compounds. However, through the subsequent analysis of fingerprints and chemometrics, the fingerprints obtained under this gradient condition can achieve the expected traceability effect. Therefore, in order to avoid more consumption of acquisition time, this gradient was selected.
3.2 Optimization of UV wavelengths
In this study, the UV absorption of the compounds at 210, 250, 300, 345 and 390 nm were compared, respectively. From Figure 3, it can be seen that Laggera pterodonta has fewer chromatographic peaks at 390 nm and 210 nm, while there are relatively more chromatographic peaks at 250, 300 and 345 nm, especially the chromatographic peak response at 345 nm within 45-60 min was better. Therefore, 345 nm was finally selected as the best wavelength for the determination of Laggera pterodonta fingerprints.
3.3 Establishment of UPLC Fingerprint
Laggera pterodonta samples from different origins were pretreated according to section 2.3.1., UPLC analysis of the samples according to step 2.3.2., and data processing according to step 2.3.3. In the end, the fingerprint of the Laggera pterodonta (Figure 4) was obtained. Then, using the software of "Chinese Medicine Chromatographic Fingerprint Similarity Evaluation System (2012 Version)", 12 common peaks (Table 1) were calibrated through peak matching, and the peak areas of the common peaks were used as different risks and R was used to PCA analyze. The results are shown in Figure 5, Laggera pterodonta from different origins can be well separated by PCA, indicating that Laggera pterodonta grown in different growth regions can be effectively distinguished by using the common peak combined with the chemometric method.
3.4. OPLS-DA analysis
SIMCA-P 14.1 software was used to perform OPLS-DA analysis on the peak areas of the common peaks of the Laggera pterodonta samples. From the OPLS-DA in Figure 6, it can be seen that Laggera pterodonta from different origins can be clearly distinguished, which was consistent with the PCA analysis results.
On the other hand, by analyzing the VIP of each common peak (Figure 7), the VIP value was used as the screening basis. When the VIP value was larger, it indicates that the difference between the common peaks was greater and the difference was more significant. The eight characteristic components with large differences have peak times of 21.805, 33.911, 37.678, 39.317, 30.434, 40.753, 44.351 and 30.984 min according to their contribution rates.
3.5 Analysis of characteristic components
Through the UV spectral analysis of each characteristic component, as shown in Figure 8, the main UV absorption was mainly in the range of 320-350 nm and 250-280 nm, which was consistent with the characteristic UV absorption of terpenes, sesquiterpenes and alkaloids.
According to the above analysis of the ultraviolet absorption spectrum of the characteristic components, combined with the reports on Laggera pterodonta in the literature 21-23, the standard materials of the main active ingredients of Laggera pterodonta reported in the literature including pterodontic acid, pterodondiol, chrysosplenetin, artemisetin were purchased to carry out the qualitative and quantitative analysis of characteristic components. The results show that only chrysosplenetin and artemisetin were consistent with the two peaks of 37.678 min and 40.753 min in the characteristic components of Laggera pterodonta. Unfortunately, the other characteristic components were not pterodontic acid and pterodondiol reported in the literature. The chemical structure confirmation of other characteristic components also needs to be determined by phytochemical methods such as isolation, purification, MS and NMR.
In this study, two standard materials, chrysosplenetin and artemisetin, were used for quantitative analysis of Laggera pterodonta from different origins, by UPLC and the fingerprinting method. The boxviolin was drawn by R as shown in Figure 9, the results of variance analysis showed that when the confidence level was 0.95, there was no significant difference in the content of chrysosplenetin between Dali and Honghe, Dali and Simao, Honghe and Simao, Lancang and Yuanjiang (p>0.05), while the content of chrysosplenetin in Dali and Lancang, Dali and Yuanjiang, Honghe and Lancang, Honghe and Yuanjiang, Lancang and Simao, Simao and Yuanjiang were significantly different (p<0.05), the most significant difference was Lancang and Honghe (p=9.03×10-5). On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the content of artemisetin between Dali and Honghe, Dali and Simao, Lancang and Yuanjiang (p>0.05), while Dali and Lancang, Dali and Yuanjiang, Honghe and Lancang, Honghe and Simao, Honghe and Yuanjiang, Lancang and Simao, Simao and Yuanjiang had significant differences (p<0.05), and the largest difference was Lancang and Simao (p=5.10×10-7).
The content of chrysosplenetin and artemisetin in Laggera pterodonta from different origins varies greatly. The content of chrysosplenetin in Dali area was lower than that in other areas, and the content of chrysosplenetin was higher in Lancang area. On the other hand, the content of artemisetin in Simao and Dali area was relatively low, and the content in Lancang area was the highest. Therefore, the content of chrysosplenetin and artemisetin in Laggera pterodonta grown in Lancang area was higher than that in other areas, and may be better than Laggera pterodonta in other areas in terms of quality and efficacy of Chinese medicinal materials.
Chrysosplenetin and artemisetin are the active ingredients in Laggera pterodonta, with topoisomerase I and II inhibition properties 24, inhibition of enterovirus25, blood pressure lowering 26,antitumor and other biological activities 27. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia stipulates that artemisetin was an index for quality control of Laggera pterodonta, and requires that the content of artemisetin in Laggera pterodonta must be greater than 0.1% 28. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia stipulates that artemisetin is an index for quality control of Laggera pterodonta, and requires that the content of artemisetin in Laggera pterodonta must be greater than 0.1%. As one of the characteristic components of Laggera pterodonta, chrysosplenetin has a higher content in Laggera pterodonta according to the content determination results in this study. Due to its good biological activity, it was predicted that chrysosplenetin can also be used as one of the important indicators for quality control and origin traceability of Laggera pterodonta.