Comparison and quantitative analysis of wild and cultivated Macrohyporia cocos using attenuated total refection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy combined with ultra-fast liquid chromatography

Dried sclerotium of Macrohyporia cocos is a well-known and widely-consumed traditional Chinese medicine and is also used as dietary supplement. According to the differential treatment between cultivation and wild habitats in the market, the comparison and quantitative analysis of wild and cultivated M. cocos were performed using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and ultra-fast liquid chromatography combined with partial least squares discriminant analysis and partial least squares regression (PLSR). 636 samples were used for the spectral scan and chromatographic analysis. Results indicated that contents of dehydrotumulosic acid, poricoic acid A and dehydrotrametenolic acid in cultivated samples were significantly different from wild samples in two medicinal parts. Differences of dehydropachymic acid and pachymic acid just existed in inner part samples (P 95.14% efficiency using spectral data. ATR-FTIR combined with PLSR provided satisfactory performance for content predictions of poricoic acid A and dehydrotrametenolic acid. This study demonstrated that growth patterns could affect the quality of inner part and epidermis of M. cocos, and ATR-FTIR was a promising technique for the identification of wild and cultivated M. cocos and the rapid determination of triterpene acids contents. [Display omitted] •Compared wild with cultivated Macrohyporia cocos basing on epidermis and inner part.•ATR-FTIR was attempted to quantify the triterpene compounds contents in M. cocos.•The classification method could identify among wild and cultivated M. cocos samples.