Discovery and verification of bitter components in Panax notoginseng based on the integrated strategy of pharmacophore model, system separation and bitter tracing technology

Panax notoginseng is a world-renowned tonic herb, which has been used as a characteristic food in Southwest China for hundreds of years. However, the taste of Panax notoginseng is extremely bitter and serious after tasting, and its bitter components are unknown. This manuscript proposes a new strategy for discovering bitter components of Panax notoginseng based on the integrated analysis of pharmacophore model, system separation and bitter tracing technology. Firstly, 16 potential bitter components were obtained by UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS combined with virtual screening, most of which were saponins.Then, the bitter components were further separated by system component separation and 5 potential bitter components were obtained. Finally, the main contributors of bitterness in Panax notoginseng were verified to be Ginsenoside Rg1, Ginsenoside Rb1 and Ginsenoside Rd by components knock-in and fNIRS. In general, this paper is the first literature report on the relatively systematic study of bitter components in Panax notoginseng.