Abstract
As one of the major abiotic stresses, salinity stress may affect the physiology and biochemical components of Apocynum venetum L. To systematically evaluate the quality of Apocyni Veneti Folium (AVF) from the perspective of physiological and the wide variety of bioactive components response to various concentrations of salt stress, this experiment was arranged on the basis of ultra-fast liquid chromatography tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UFLC-QTRAP-MS/MS) technology and multivariate statistical analysis. Physiological characteristics of photosynthetic pigments, osmotic homeostasis, lipid peroxidation product, and antioxidative enzymes were introduced to investigate the salt tolerance mechanism of AVF under salinity treatments of four concentrations (0, 100, 200, and 300 mM NaCl, respectively). Furthermore, a total of 43 bioactive constituents, including 14 amino acids, nine nucleosides, six organic acids, and 14 flavonoids were quantified in AVF under salt stress. In addition, multivariate statistical analysis, including hierarchical clustering analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and gray relational analysis (GRA) was employed to systematically cluster, distinguish, and evaluate the samples, respectively. Compared with the control, the results demonstrated that 200 mM and 100 mM salt stress contributed to maintain high quality of photosynthesis, osmotic balance, antioxidant enzyme activity, and the accumulation of metabolites, except for total organic acids, and the quality of AVF obtained by these two groups was better than others; however, under severe stress, the accumulation of the oxidative damage and the reduction of metabolite caused by inefficiently scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) lead to lower quality. In summary, the proposed method may provide integrated information for the quality evaluation of AVF and other salt-tolerant Chinese medicines.
Highlights
As a major abiotic factors constraint on agriculture, salinity affects about 20% of the cultivated lands in the world and nearly 50% of all irrigated lands [1,2]
Our aim was to use the changes in physiology and biochemical components as references to study the quality control of Apocyni Veneti Folium (AVF) response to salt stress
An efficient analytical method of simultaneous determination of multiple bioactive constituents combined with physiological analysis was established for the quality evaluation based on the multivariate statistical analysis
Summary
As a major abiotic factors constraint on agriculture, salinity affects about 20% of the cultivated lands in the world and nearly 50% of all irrigated lands [1,2]. The medicinal plants among the major and vital groups of crops that exert a significant role in disease prevention and treatment are being threatened by this constraint [3]. It is well established that metabolites of medicinal plants, as sources of natural antioxidant and immune enhancer, are involved in the treatment of human diseases and health disorders [14]. Their synthesis and accumulation depend on the growing conditions and are vitalized under abiotic stresses [5]. A systematic quality assessment method is required for the quality control of herbal medicines
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