AUTHOR=He Jiao , Zhang Qian , Ma Cuiying , Giancaspro Gabriel I. , Bi Kaishun , Li Qing 

TITLE=An Effective Workflow for Differentiating the Same Genus Herbs of Chrysanthemum morifolium Flower and Chrysanthemum Indicum Flower

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2021.575726

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2021.575726

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>C</italic>. morifolium flower and <italic>C. indicum</italic> flower are two closely related herbal species with similar morphological and microscopic characteristics but are discriminated in edible and medicinal purpose. However, there is no effective approach to distinguish the two herbs. A novel workflow for quickly differentiating <italic>C. morifolium</italic> flower and <italic>C. indicum</italic> flower was developed. Firstly, the difference in anti-inflammatory effects for <italic>C. morifolium</italic> flower and <italic>C. indicum</italic> flower was characterized using lipopolysaccharide-treated rats. Then HPLC fingerprint analysis for 53 batches of <italic>C. morifolium</italic> flowers and 33 batches of <italic>C. indicum</italic> flower was carried out to deep profile the chemical components. The preliminary markers were screened out by OPLS-DA, identified by HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS, and quantified by the improved SSDMC (single reference standard to determine multiple compounds) approach. Finally, multiple statistical data mining was performed to confirm the markers and a binary logistic regression equation was built to differentiate <italic>C. morifolium</italic> flower and <italic>C. indicum</italic> flower successfully. In general, the established workflow was rapid, effective and highly feasible, which would provide a powerful tool for herb identification.</p>