Rapid authentication of Gastrodiae rhizoma by direct ionization mass spectrometry

•Direct analysis of raw Gastrodiae rhizoma samples by mass spectrometry.•Rapid detection and identification of active ingredients of Gastrodiae rhizoma.•Rapid differentiation of wild and cultivated Gastrodiae rhizoma.•Rapid differentiation of Gastrodiae rhizoma from different geographical origins.•Rapid determination of genuine and counterfeit Gastrodiae rhizome.

In this study, direct ionization mass spectrometry (DI-MS) for rapid authentication of Gastrodiae rhizoma (known as Tianma in Chinese), a popular herbal medicine, has been developed. This method is rapid, simple and allows direct generation of characteristic mass spectra from the raw herbal medicines with the application of some solvents and a high voltage. The acquired DI-MS spectra showed that gastrodin, parishin B/parishin C and parishin, the major active components of Gastrodiae rhizoma, could be found only in genuine Gastrodiae rhizoma samples, but not in counterfeit samples, thus allowing rapid authentication of Gastrodiae rhizoma. Moreover, wild and cultivated Gastrodiae rhizoma could be classified and Gastrodiae rhizoma from different geographical locations could be differentiated based on their different intensity ratios of characteristic ions or principal component analysis (PCA). This method is simple, rapid, reproducible, and can be extended to analyze other herbal medicines.

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