Revealing the differences in phenolics in different parts of Taraxacum mongolicum using UPLC-MS/MS

Taraxacum mongolicum Hand.-Mazz. (TM) is a commonly used Chinese herbal medicine. Phenolic natural products are one of its main active components, which have a relationship with its biological activities. Previous studies have reported certain differences in the biological activities of different parts of TM. The present study aims to quantitatively analyze 130 phenolic metabolites in the roots, leaves and flowers of TM using UPLC-QTRAP-MS/MS. The method detected seventy-five metabolites in roots, seventy-three in leaves and eighty-two in flowers. Additionally, the differential metabolites and metabolic pathways were further studied using statistical analysis methods. Four, nine, and ten differential metabolites were detected upon comparison between the leaves and roots, flowers and roots, and flowers and leaves, while the three parts compared together showed twelve differential metabolites. Differences in metabolic pathways were determined by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) based pathway analysis. Our results indicated that differential production of phenolic metabolites exists in TM roots, leaves and flowers, which may explain differences in efficacy of different parts. Therefore, it is recommended to use TM roots, leaves, and flowers separately. It is also worth noting that TM flowers had the highest content of phenolic metabolites. Furthermore, caftaric acid and delphinidin 3-O-glucoside may be used as chemical markers to identify different source parts of TM powder.