Comprehensive analysis of primary and secondary metabolites and antioxidant activities provides insights into metabolic profiling of different organs of Pimpinella brachycarpa Nakai

Abstract

Pimpinella brachycarpa Nakai is a perennial plant that has been widely used as a traditional medicine. However, the comprehensive analysis of primary and secondary metabolites and antioxidant activities in different organs (flowers, leaves, stems, and roots) has not been extensively studied. A comprehensive analysis using GC-qMS, GC-TOFMS, and HPLC metabolomic analyses identified 66 known metabolites in different organs of P. brachycarpa. The heat map showed that most metabolites were high in flowers and leaves. KEGG enrichment analysis based on plant metabolic pathways showed that six pathways were significantly impacted based on -log p-value and pathway impact scores. The in vitro antioxidant activities, such as DPPH, ABTS, and SOD-like, reducing power activities, IC50 values for DPPH, ABTS, and SOD were highest in flower and leaf extracts. This study elucidated the metabolites and medicinal and edible value of different P. brachycarpa organs, promoting the effective utilisation of different P. brachycarpa organs.