简介：AstragaliRadix(AR)isoneofthemostpopularherbalmedicinesintraditionalChinesemedicine(TCM).WildARisbelievedtobeofhighquality,andsubstitutionwithcultivatedARisfrequentlyencounteredinthemarket.Inthepresentstudy,twotypesofARs(wildandcultivated)fromAstragalusmembranaceus(Fisch.)Bge.andA.membranaceusvar.mongholicus(Bge.)Hsiao,growingindifferentregionsofChina,wereanalyzedbyNMRprofilingcoupledwithmultivariateanalysis.Resultsshowedthatbothcouldbedifferentiatedsuccessfullyandcultivationpatternsorgrowingyearsmighthavegreaterimpactonthemetabolitecompositionsthanthevariety;themetabolitesresponsiblefortheseparationwereidentified.Inaddition,threeextractionmethodswerecomparedandthemethod(M1)wasusedforfurtheranalysis.InM1,theextractionsolventcomposedofwater,methanol,andchloroformintheratioof1:1:2wasusedtoobtaintheaqueousmethanol(upperlayer)andchloroform(lowerlayer)fractions,respectively,showingthebestseparation.Thedifferentialmetabolitesamongdifferentmethodswerealsorevealed.Moreover,thesucrose/glucoseratiocouldbeusedasasimpleindextodifferentiatewildandcultivatedAR.Meanwhile,thechangesofcorrelationpatternamongthedifferentialmetabolitesofthetwovarietieswerefound.TheworkdemonstratedthatNMR-basednon-targetedprofilingapproach,combinedwithmultivariatestatisticalanalysis,canbeusedasapowerfultoolfordifferentiatingARofdifferentcultivationtypesorgrowingyears.