RESUMO
To differentiate traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) derived from congeneric species in TCM compound preparations is usually challenging. The roots of(PG),(PQ) and(PN) are used as popular TCM. They contain similar triterpenoid saponins (ginsenosides) as the major bioactive constituents. Thus far, only a few chemical markers have been discovered to differentiate these three species. Herein we present a multiple marker detection approach to effectively differentiate the threespecies, and to identify them in compound preparations. Firstly, 85 batches of crude drug samples (including 32 PG, 30 PQ, and 23 PN) were analyzed by monitoring 40 major ginsenosides in the extracted ion chromatograms (EICs) using a validated LC-MS fingerprinting method. Secondly, the samples were clustered into different groups by pattern recognition chemometric approaches using PLS-DA and OPLS-DA models, and 17 diagnostic chemical markers were discovered. Aside from the previously known Rf and p-F, ginsenoside Rscould be a new marker to differentiate PG from PQ. Finally, the above multiple chemical markers were used to identify thespecies in 60 batches of TCM compound preparations.