Correlation of chemical profiles obtained from H-1-NMR and LC-MS metabolomics with alpha-glucosidase inhibition activity for varietal selections of Ficus deltoidea

Introduction Ficus deltoidea Jack (Moraceae) is a plant used in Malaysia to treat various ailments, including diabetes. The presence of several varieties raises essential questions regarding which is the potential bioactive variety and what are the bioactive metabolites. Objectives Here, we explored the phytochemical diversity of the seven varieties from Peninsular Malaysia using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) analyses and correlated it with the alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Methodology The Nuclear Overhauser Effect Spectroscopy (NOESY) One-Dimensional (1D)-NMR and LC-MS data were processed, annotated, and correlated with in vitro alpha-glucosidase inhibitory using multivariate data analysis. Results The alpha-glucosidase results demonstrated that different varieties have varying inhibitory effects, with the highest inhibition rate being F. deltoidea var. trengganuensis and var. kunstleri. Furthermore, diverse habitats and plant ages could also influence the inhibitory rate. The heat map from NMR and LC-MS profiles showed unique patterns according to varying levels of alpha-glucosidase inhibition rate. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) model constructed from both NMR and LC-MS further confirmed the correlation between the alpha-glucosidase inhibition rate of F. deltoidea varieties and its metabolite profiles. The Variable Influence on Projection (VIP) and correlation coefficient (p(corr)) values values were used to determine the highly relevant metabolites for explaining the anticipated inhibitory action. Conclusion NMR and LC-MS annotations allow the identification of flavan-3-ols and proanthocyanidins as the key bioactive factors. Our current results demonstrated the value of multivariate data analysis to predict the quality of herbal materials from both biological and chemical aspects.