Effect of deactivation of enzymes on chemical composition of Forsythiae Fructus using 1H-NMR-based metabolomics approach / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the effect of deactivation of enzymes on chemical composition of Forsythiae Fructus using NMR based metabolomics approach. Methods: 1H-NMR-based metabolomics approach combined with multivariate statistical analysis was used to investigate the differential metabolites between raw Forsythiae Fructus (RF) and Forsythiae Fructus with deactivation of enzymes (DF). And degradation pathway of significant metabolites was inferred by biosynthetic pathway. Results: Twenty-four metabolites were identified in the 1H-NMR spectrum of Forsythiae Fructus, and principal component analysis (PCA) showed clear separation between RF and DF. The S-plot of orthogonal partial least square discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA) revealed that ten compounds contributed to the separation of RF and DF, and the levels of forsythiaside A, forsythiaside C, phillyrin, rutin, and surcose were higher in DF than those in RF, while the levels of rengyol, rengyoside, rengyolone, α-glucose, and β-glucose were higher in RF than those in DF. Moreover, the degradation of forsythiaside A into rengyol was proposed. Conclusion: This study reveals the chemical effect of deactivation of enzymes on Forsythiae Fructus in a holistic manner, which confirms rationality and necessity of deactivation of enzymes during the processing of Forsythiae Fructus. This study also serves as a basis for the bioactive compounds and quality standards research of Forsythiae Fructus.