Metabolomics analysis of differential chemical constituents and α-glucosidase inhibiting activity of Phyllanthus urinaria L. root, stem, leaf and fruit

The differential chemical constituents of the different Phyllanthus urinaria L. (PUL) parts were investigated by UPLC/Q-TOF MS-based metabolomics. A total of 69 compounds were tentatively identified in the whole plant extract and 35 of them were common to root, stem, leaf and fruit parts. And four compounds were selected as biomarkers for leaves, fruits, stems and roots, respectively. The four PUL parts all had good α-glucosidase inhibitory activities and the activities of fruit, root and stem extracts were about fivefold higher than the leaf part. The hierarchical cluster analysis and heat map were used to explore the relationship between the α-glucosidase inhibitory activities and chemical constituent differences of four PUL parts.