Application of a Smartphone Metabolomics Platform to the Authentication of Schisandra sinensis.

INTRODUCTION

Herbal medicines have been used for a long time all around the world. Since the quality of herbal preparations depends on the source of herbal materials, there has been a strong need to develop methods to correctly identify the origin of materials.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a smartphone metabolomics platform as a simpler and low-cost alternative for the identification of herbal material source.

METHODOLOGY

Schisandra sinensis extracts from Korea and China were prepared. The visible spectra of all samples were measured by a smartphone spectrometer platform. This platform included all the necessary measures built-in for the metabolomics research: data acquisition, processing, chemometric analysis and visualisation of the results. The result of the smartphone metabolomics platform was compared to that of NMR-based metabolomics, suggesting the feasibility of smartphone platform in metabolomics research.

RESULTS

The smartphone metabolomics platform gave similar results to the NMR method, showing good separation between Korean and Chinese materials and correct predictability for all test samples.

CONCLUSION

With its accuracy and advantages of affordability, user-friendliness, and portability, the smartphone metabolomics platform could be applied to the authentication of other medicinal plants. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.