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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1501966
This article is part of the Research Topic Bioactive Compounds, Functional Ingredients, Antioxidants, and Health Benefits of Edible Plants Volume II View all 5 articles

Comprehensive chemical and bioactive investigation of Chinese peony flower: a case of valorization of by-products as a new food ingredient from Chinese herb

Provisionally accepted
Meng-ling Peng Meng-ling Peng 1Ming-jiong Gong Ming-jiong Gong 1Jing Zhang Jing Zhang 1Anastassiya V. Gadetskaya Anastassiya V. Gadetskaya 2Qian-Wen Liang Qian-Wen Liang 1Pei-wen He Pei-wen He 1Xiaohui Qiu Xiaohui Qiu 1Zhihai Huang Zhihai Huang 1Wen Xu Wen Xu 1*
  • 1 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
  • 2 Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The edible flower of Chinese peony (CPF), major waste by-product of Chinese Herb Radix paeoniae, was comprehensively investigated for the first time. A validated UHPLC Orbitrap Mass spectrometry combined a three-levels characterization strategy were used to analyze CPF's chemical composition. A total of 150 chemical components were identified in CPF, among them, more than 50 components were reported from this species for the first time, with potential new chemicals reported. 67 quantified or semi-quantified targeted metabolomics analysis indicated a clear distinction between flower parts and four cultivars. CPF demonstrated significant antioxidant activities and displayed anti-inflammatory effects by reducing nitric oxide, IL-6, and TNF-α release in LPS-induced macrophages. Correlation analysis highlighted a strong positive correlation between total phenolic content and DPPH ABTS, and FRAP antioxidant activities. The present study is the first to comprehensively investigate the chemical profile and bioactivities of CPF, which provide insights into further understanding of its healthpromoting potential.

    Keywords: Paeonia lactiflora, Orbitrap, Flavonoids, Antioxidants, Biowaste valorization

    Received: 26 Sep 2024; Accepted: 02 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Peng, Gong, Zhang, Gadetskaya, Liang, He, Qiu, Huang and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wen Xu, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.