Metabolomics analysis and rapid identification of changes in chemical ingredients in crude and processed Astragali Radix by UPLC-QTOF-MS combined with novel informatics UNIFI platform

Astragali Radix, the root of Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge. var. mongholicus (Bge.) Hsiao or Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge., is widely used as a tonic decoction pieces in the clinic of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Astragali Radix has various processed products with varying pharmacological actions. There is no modern scientific evidence to explain the differences in pharmacological activities and related mechanisms. In the present study, we explore the changes in chemical components in Astragali Radix after processing, by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) combined with novel informatics UNIFI platform and multivariate statistical analysis. Our results showed that the crude and various processed products could be clearly separated in PCA scores plot and 15 significant markers could be used to distinguish crude and various processed products by OPLS-DA in UNIFI platform. In conclusion, the present study provided a basis of chemical components for revealing connotation of different processing techniques on Astragali Radix.