Tetrastigmae Radix, also known as Sanyeqing (SYQ) in Chinese, is an important traditional Chinese medicine with a long history. Tetrastigma hemsleyanum Diels et Gilg mainly grows in the south of the Yangtze River and is widely distributed. The content of bioactive constituents in SYQ varies greatly in different habitats, and there are obvious differences in the content of bioactive constituents between southwestern SYQ (WS) and southeastern SYQ (ES). To distinguish and evaluate the quality of ES and WS, an analytical method based on ultrafast performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (UFLC-QTRAP-MS/MS) was established for the simultaneous determination of 60 constituents including 25 flavonoids, 9 phenolic acids, 15 amino acids, and 11 nucleosides in 47 samples from ES and WS. In addition, orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), t-test, and gray correlation analysis (GRA) were used to discriminate and evaluate the ES and WS samples based on the contents of 60 constituents. The results showed that there were significant differences in the bioactive constituents between ES and WS, and ES was superior to WS in terms of quality evaluation. This study not only provides basic information for differentiating ES and WS but also provides a new perspective for the comprehensive evaluation and quality control of SYQ from two different habitats.
Keywords: Tetrastigmae Radix; multiple bioactive constituents; multivariate statistical analysis; simultaneous determination; two different habitats.