Abstract
Mume Fructus (MF) contains a variety of organic acids, free amino acids, and nucleoside components, and studies have not yet analyzed the relationship between the components of free amino acids and nucleosides with the varieties of MF. A rapid and sensitive method was established for simultaneous determination of 21 free amino acids and 9 nucleosides in MF by ultrafast liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The analysis was carried out on a Waters XBridge Amide column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 3.5 μm) with elution by the mobile phase of 0.2% aqueous formic acid (A) and 0.2% formic acid acetonitrile (B) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min with 1 μL per injection. The column temperature was maintained at 30°C. The target compounds were analyzed by the positive ion multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The comprehensive evaluation of the samples was carried out by principal component analysis (PCA) and technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) analysis. Results showed the method could simultaneously determine 30 components in MF. The content of total analytes in six mainstream varieties was different, exhibited the order Nangao > Daqingmei > Zhaoshuimei > Yanmei > Shishengme > Baimei, and aspartic acid and adenosine were the most abundant amino acid and nucleoside. PCA and OPLS-DA could easily distinguish the samples, and 11 components could be chemical markers of sample classification. TOPSIS implied that the quality of Nangao and Daqingmei was superior to the other varieties. The results could provide a reliable basis for quality evaluation and utilisation of medicinal and edible MF.
Highlights
Mume Fructus (MF) is derived from the immature fruit of Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc., named Wumei, and is commonly used food and Chinese medicines, with astringing the lung to stop cough, relieving diarrhea with astringents, removing toxicity for detumescence, promoting fluid relieving thirst, and calming Ascaris [1, 2]
Scholars have used the components of amino acids and nucleosides to evaluate the quality of medicines and edible medicinal plants [17,18,19], and the results showed that differences in the composition and contents of amino acids and nucleosides could be used as biomarkers to characterize the quality of medicines and food
According to the analytical results, MF had rich amino acids and nucleosides, and aspartic acid was the most abundant amino acid in MF followed by L-asparagine, c-aminobutyric acid, L-valine, and L-histidine
Summary
Mume Fructus (MF) is derived from the immature fruit of Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc., named Wumei (in China), and is commonly used food and Chinese medicines, with astringing the lung to stop cough, relieving diarrhea with astringents, removing toxicity for detumescence, promoting fluid relieving thirst, and calming Ascaris [1, 2]. For its important medicinal and edible processing value, MF is widely cultivated in China [7, 8], and the medicinal varieties are mostly distributed in Southwest areas of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Some edible varieties were mixed as medicinal varieties, and the differences in appearance and internal components of varieties brought many problems to the identification and quality evaluation of MF [9]. Phytochemical studies have revealed that MF contains various components, including organic acids, amino acids, nucleotides, terpenoids, inorganic elements, volatile components, and polysaccharides [2, 10]. Organic acids are known as bioactive constituents, and amino acids and nucleotides play synergistic roles with organic acids in the clinical effects of MF [11, 12]. Amino acids are the basic building blocks of proteins which are required for human
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