Fingerprinting differentiation of Astragalus membranaceus roots according to ages using ¹H-NMR spectroscopy and multivariate statistical analysis

The root of Astragalus membranaceus is a traditional folk medicine that has been used for many therapeutic purposes in Asia. It reportedly acts as an immunostimulant, tonic, hepatoprotective, diuretic, antidiabetic, analgesic, expectorant, sedative, and anticancer drug. In this study, metabolomic profiling was applied to the roots of A. membranaceus of different ages using NMR coupled with two multivariate statistical analysis methods: such as principal components analysis (PCA) and canonical discriminant analysis (CDA). This allowed various metabolites to be assigned in NMR spectra, including γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), aspartic acid, succinic acid, glutamic acid, glutamine, N-acetyl aspartic acid, acetic acid, arginine, alanine, threonine, lactic acid, and valine. The score plot from PCA and also CDA allowed a clear separation between samples according to age.