[UPLC quantitative fingerprint research on Gardeniae Fructus based on chemical pattern recognition technology]

Area of Science:

• Phytochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Chemometrics

Background:

• Gardeniae Fructus is a valuable traditional Chinese medicine with varying quality based on origin.
• Establishing reliable methods for geographical origin traceability is crucial for quality control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a chemical fingerprinting method for Gardeniae Fructus.
• To distinguish the geographical origins of Gardeniae Fructus using chemical pattern recognition.
• To identify and quantify index components for quality assessment.

Main Methods:

• Collected 26 batches of Gardeniae Fructus from different regions.
• Utilized Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) coupled with Mass Spectrometry (MS) for component identification.
• Applied Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Orthogonal Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) for chemometric analysis.

Main Results:

• Established a reproducible UPLC fingerprint with a similarity > 0.89 for Gardeniae Fructus.
• Identified 16 compounds, including monoterpenes, iridoids, and diterpenoids.
• Successfully distinguished geographical origins of Gardeniae Fructus using PCA and OPLS-DA.
• Screened geniposide and crocin I as differential markers for origin traceability.
• Quantified variations in crocin I, crocin II, and geniposide content across different origins.

Conclusions:

• The developed UPLC fingerprinting and chemometric approach effectively traces the geographical origin of Gardeniae Fructus.
• Geniposide and crocin I are identified as key markers for differentiating Gardeniae Fructus origins.
• This method provides a valuable reference for ensuring the quality and authenticity of Gardeniae Fructus.