Research on the origin identification of Laggera pterodonta based on UPLC fingerprint and chemometrics
Authors: Wang An , Li Songmei , Tong Xiaoyun , Qiu Jia , Ma Dianfei , Xia Jie 
Published: September 2022

Laggera pterodonta is a famous Chinese herbal medicine in China, which has the effect of treating viral infection, bronchial and sore throat. Yunnan Province of China is the main production area, and Laggera pterodonta grows in a wide range of areas in Yunnan Province. The climates of the respective growing places are also different, which may be different for the accumulation of medicinal components in it, and the evaluation of different the quality of the traditional Chinese medicine of Laggera pterodonta of origin is of great significance. At present, there was still a lack of reliable technology for the origin identification of Laggera pterodonta, especially the origin of Laggera pterodonta cannot be identified from the appearance, which was very difficult to evaluate the efficacy of Laggera pterodonta from different origins. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop a quick and easy method for the origin identification of Laggera pterodonta. Thirty-four samples of Laggera pterodonta from five main production areas of Dali, Jianshui, Lancang, Simao and Yuanjiang in Yunnan Province were used as the research objects. UPLC and PDA detector were used to collect fingerprints, the common peaks were obtained using the "Chinese Medicine Chromatographic Fingerprint Similarity Evaluation System (2012 Edition)", and then carry out PCA and OPLS-DA analysis by R and SIMCA-P, respectively. Laggera pterodonta from different origins can be distinguished by OPLS-DA, which was consistent with the PCA analysis results. Through the comparison of VIP values, 8 characteristic components with great differences are obtained, and the UV absorption of these characteristic components was mainly concentrated at 320-350 nm and 250-280 nm, possibly characteristic UV absorption of terpenes, sesquiterpenes, and alkaloids. Through the comparison of the standard products, it was confirmed that the two characteristic components were chrysosplenetin and artemisetin, and the quantitative analysis of these two compounds in the Laggera pterodonta from different origins was carried out. The results of variance analysis showed that the areas with the most significant difference in chrysosplenetin content were Lancang and Honghe (p=9.03×10-5), and the areas with the most significant difference in artemisetin content were Lancang and Simao (p=5.10×10-7). The Simao and Dali areas have lower levels of artemisetin than other areas, with the highest levels being the Lancang area. The content of chrysosplenetin in Dali area was lower than that in other areas, and the content was higher in Lancang area. It was speculated that Laggera pterodonta in Lancang area may be better than other origins in terms of quality and efficacy of Chinese medicinal materials. Chrysosplenetin can also be used as one of the important indicators for quality control and origin traceability of Laggera pterodonta. Using UPLC combined with chemometric methods, Laggera pterodonta from different regions of China’s Yunnan Province, can be effectively identified.