Metabolomic differentiation of deer antlers of various origins by 1H NMR spectrometry and principal components analysis

The metabolomic analysis of various types of deer antler was performed by 1H NMR spectrometry and principal components analysis (PCA). The PCA of the 1H NMR spectra of the aqueous fractions allowed a clear discrimination between antler samples according to their origins by the first three principal components (PC1, PC2, and PC3), which cumulatively accounted for 93.5% of the variation in all variables. In particular, the score plots by the combination of PC1 and PC3 allowed an excellent separation of the antler samples. In addition, the major peaks in 1H NMR spectra contributing to the discrimination were assigned to lactate, alanine, acetic acid, choline, glycine, valine, tyrosine, and phenylalanine. This metabolomic-analysis-based method allows various types of deer antler to be efficiently differentiated without any pre-purification steps.