Differentiation of Flos Chrysanthemi Cultivars by NMR Fingerprinting and Chemometric Analysis

Flos Chrysanthemi (Ju Hua), chrysanthemum flower of the species Chrysanthemum morifolium or C. indicum, has been used as herbal medicine in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. It is traditionally used for relief of the common cold, fevers, headaches, conjunctivitis, high blood pressure, and reddening of the eyes [1]. Recent studies showed that it also posseses antibacterial, antifungal, antispirochetal, antiflammatory, and anti-HIV activities [2]. C. morifolium is native to China. Cultivars of different origins are cultivated in China. In the Chinese Pharmacopeia, Ju Hau is classified and recorded as different groups, such as “Bo Ju”, “Gong Ju”, Hang Ju”, “Chu Ju”, due to different growing places, varieties and processing methods. It is believed that the qualities of various groups are different, thus their prices and pharmacologic properties may vary. NMR-based Metabolomics is a technology to potentially provide better insight into the qualitative and quantitative shifts in metabolite patterns of the organism [3]. In the present study, we reported the investigation for differentiation of Flos Chrysanthemi cultivars by NMR profiling and chemometric analysis.

Acknowledgements: This work was supported in part by Science Based Authentication of Dietary Supplements funded by the Food and Drug Administration grant No. 1U01FD004246–01; and the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Specific Cooperative Agreement No. 58–6408–2-0009. References: [1] Zheng Y, Wang XS, et al. (2006)J Asian Nat Prod Res, 8(3): 217–222. [2] Ozudogru EA, Previati A, et al. (2010) Methods Mol Biol, 589: 303–324. [3] Kruger NJ, Troncoso-Ponce MA, et al. (2008) Nat Protoc, 3(6): 1001–1012.