Abstract
Both plants and animals are living things made up of similar cells as well as organelles, and their essence of life is the same. However, plants face more environmental stress than animals and generate excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), a group of small molecules that can harm proteins, necessitating distinctive metabolic processes. Secondary metabolites in plants are a group of chemical components that can eliminate ROS and can also exhibit medicinal properties; therefore, herbal medicines are often closely linked to the ecological significance of secondary metabolites. Why plants contain so many, not few, active medicinal ingredients is unknown. The root of Scutellaria baicalensis, a popular herbal medicine, is rich in various flavonoids with diverse structural features. Sodium hydrosulfite (Na2S2O4) can produce O˙-2 radicals and induce physical conditions under environmental stress. Using UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS analysis, a total of 25 different compounds were identified in the roots of S. baicalensis between the Na2S2O4 groups and suitable conditions. Based on the results of the t-test (P<0.05) performed for the groups and ions with values of VIP ≥ 2, the most significantly different chemical markers with Na2S2O4 treatment were shikimic acid, citric acid, baicalin, wogonoside, baicalein, wogonin, 3,5,7,2',6'-pentahydroxyflavanone, 5,2',6'-trihydroxy-7,8-dimethoxy flavone, chrysin, eriodictyol, 5,8-dihydroxy-6,7 -dimethoxy flavone, skullcapflavone Ⅱ, and 5,7-dihydroxy-6,8,2',3'-tetrame thoxyflavone, and most of them were free flavonoids with many phenolic hydroxyl or methoxyl groups and characteristically high antioxidant activities. S. baicalensis roots modified their ability to eliminate ROS and maintained the equilibrium of ROS through the multitudinous biosynthesis and conversion of flavonoids, which is similar to the equilibrium established by an intricate buffer solution and perfectly explains the diversity and complexity of medicinal plant ingredients.
Highlights
Na2S2O4 was employed to induce stress, and we investigated the different secondary metabolites, the biological significance of flavonoids in S. baicalensis under stress and the diversity and complexity of medicinal ingredients
The chemical composition was elucidated by the spectral information obtained from secondary ion mass spectrometry, which was cross-referenced with the retention time, mass-tocharge ratio, molecular weight, structural formula and elemental composition of known ingredients in Radix Scutellariae
A variety of secondary metabolites in S. baicalensis was produced in varying proportions
Summary
Animals can avoid unfavourable circumstances, and the survival of native species is mainly dependent on intraspecific or interspecific competition for foods, not the ecological. Some -SH groups that maintain the secondary structure and tertiary structure of the enzymes are liable to be injured if an undue amount of ROS in plants is generated under severe abiotic stresses [5]. This might be the reason why plants possess the ability to produce secondary metabolites in addition to antioxidant enzymes. It is known that the ingredients in herbal medicines are complex, so it is impossible to assess their value by only one or several secondary metabolites These compounds are usually put into classes with similar structures, whose changes result in variations in their activities [13]. Na2S2O4 was employed to induce stress, and we investigated the different secondary metabolites, the biological significance of flavonoids in S. baicalensis under stress and the diversity and complexity of medicinal ingredients
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