Geographical Differentiation and Quality Evaluation of Lonicerae japonicae Flos by Integrating HS-GC-IMS Volatile...

Lonicerae japonicae Flos (LJF) is a medicinal and edible herbal material whose chemical characteristics and biological activity may vary with geographical origin. In this study, 27 LJF batches from Shandong, Henan, and Hebei Provinces were evaluated using headspace gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS), multivariate analysis, and a mouse model of Staphylococcus aureus superinfection following influenza A (H1N1) virus infection. HS-GC-IMS detected 62 volatile ion signals; 49 were tentatively assigned to 36 unique volatile organic compounds (VOCs), while 13 remained unidentified. Fingerprint analysis revealed distinct origin-associated differences in volatile profiles, and OPLS-DA showed the clearest separation of Shandong samples from those from Henan and Hebei (R²Y = 0.898; Q² = 0.844). Thirty-two VIP-ranked signals were identified as candidate discriminant variables. In vivo, LJF aqueous extracts reduced the lung index, pulmonary bacterial burden, and relative NP RNA expression. Samples from Shandong and Henan generally showed greater improvements than those from Hebei across the evaluated endpoints. Overall, both the chemical and pharmacodynamic datasets indicated origin-associated variation in LJF. Direct relationships between specific volatile constituents and pharmacodynamic effects, however, were not established. These findings support the integration of HS-GC-IMS profiling with pharmacodynamic assessment as a practical framework for origin-related quality evaluation of LJF, while targeted confirmation of key discriminatory VOCs and further chemical-efficacy analyses remain warranted.