Fig. 1

Biomarkers of red secretary cavities and the synergistic effect of polyacetylenes and sesquiterpenes in Atractylodes lancea. a Overview of sample acquisition and workflow. Red secretory cavities (RSC), yellow secretory cavities (YSC), and non-secretory cavities (NSC) samples were obtained from JAR with three independent biological repeats each. b Venn diagram depicting differential metabolites associated with red secretory cavities, highlighting shared and unique compounds among RSC, YSC, and NSC. c Overview of sample acquisition and workflow. Samples of AR from three different geographical origins, including transverse sections from Jiangsu (JAR), Shaanxi (SAR), and Hubei (HAR). Secretory cavities in cortex (Co-SC), phloem (Ph-SC), xylem (Xy-SC), and pith (Pi-SC) are indicated. d Venn diagram showing the three differential metabolites associated with the red secretory cavities. e Venn diagram illustrating the differential metabolites shared between differential metabolite set 1 (9 metabolites presented in Fig. 1b) and set 2 (3 metabolites presented in Fig. 1d). f, g Structural formulas of atractylodin (f) and (4E,6E,12E)-tetradecatriene-8,10-diyne-1,3-diol-diacetate (g), and their content differences among RSC, YSC, and NSC (mean ± sem, n=3, t-test, ***P < 0.001). Dissolving standard substances were used to simulate the colour differences of atractylodin and (4E,6E,12E)-tetradecatriene-8,10-diyne-1,3-diol-diacetate at different concentrations (concentration reference in quantitative results in (f) and (g), solvent ethyl acetate). Bars = 1 cm. h The optical images of rhizome cross sections of JAR (selected trapezoid patch is marked with red dash line). And corresponding DESI/PI-MSI of selected ions (m/z). MS images were recorded with a scanning step size of 200 μm. Bar = 3 mm. i Effects of different ratios of essential oil components on the levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β in mouse colonic tissue (mean ± sem, n=8). Stars indicate significant differences to the model group (t-test, P < 0.05). The experimental group Exp+All mirrors the compound composition found in JAR from the geographic region of Geo-herb, featuring 44% atractylon, 37% atractylodin, 8% hinesol, and 11% ß-eudesmol. In contrast, Exp-Atd excludes atractylodin, while Exp-Atl omits atractylon. Exp-Hnl eliminates hinesol from the mixture, and Exp-Bem removes ß-eudesmol.