Chemical Profiling and Differential Constituents Analysis of Honghema and Its Easily Confusable Species Driven by High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry and Pattern Recognition

作者：Congying Huang, Yute Zhong, Hui Li, Dan Wu, T J Li, Wenhua Li, S Chen, Zipeng Gong, Haiyu Xu, Ping Wang · 发表于：Molecules · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.3390/molecules31152614 · 研究领域：Medicinal plant effects and applications、Sesquiterpenes and Asteraceae Studies、Plant chemical constituents analysis

Background: Honghema is a traditional Chinese medicinal material and is also widely used by ethnic minority communities in Guizhou Province, where it is commonly known as “Reib ndad gunb” and “Uab Detdend”. The botanical origins were the whole plants of Laportea bulbifera (Siebold & Zucc.) Wedd. (L. bulbifera) and Girardinia diversifolia (Link) Friis (G. diversifolia). Due to morphological similarities, Urtica mairei H. Lév. (U. mairei) was often mixed as easily confusable species in actual market circulation. However, systematic research regarding the differences in chemical composition between the two botanical origins, as well as between them and their easily confusable species remain limited. This study aimed to comprehensively characterise the chemical constituents of L. bulbifera, G. diversifolia, and U. mairei, and to identify significantly differential chemical constituents for their discrimination. Methods: Data acquisition was performed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). Multivariate statistical analyses combined with reference standard comparison were performed to investigate the differences in chemical profiles among L. bulbifera, G. diversifolia and U. mairei, identify the key differential constituents leading to the differences, and clarify their relative abundance information. Results: A total of 133, 77, and 59 chemical constituents were identified from L. bulbifera, G. diversifolia, and U. mairei, respectively. Thes...