Metabolomic profiling of M. speciosa champ at different growth stages

Millettia speciosa Champ (M. speciosa) is an edible food and folk medicine and extracts from its roots exhibit a hepatoprotective effect. However, its metabolic growth process and the best harvest time have not been reported. This study systematically evaluated the metabolomic profiling of M. speciosa root extracts at different growth stages through the UPLC-Q-TOF-MS, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and An orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). The results revealed there were significant differences among extracts from six ages of M. speciosa, and 110 compounds were identified. Pharmacological studies showed that 5-year and 20-year old M. speciosa roots may exhibit higher fat-lowering effects, while 5-year-old (M.s-5Y) showed better hepatoprotective activity in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) mice. Hence, our study suggested that M.s-5Y may have potent efficacy in ameliorating NAFLD, which might be useful in determining the optimum time to harvest M. speciosa.