Objective To explore the chemical profile variations of Glycyrrhiza uralensis from different origins and screen origin-specific characteristic markers by using UPLC fingerprinting integrated with chemometrics. This approach provides a scientific basis and reference for the quality evaluation of G. uralensis with unified attributes. Methods This study established UPLC fingerprints for 30 batches of G. uralensis collected from five origins and validated the analytical method. The quality consistency of the samples was preliminarily analyzed through similarity evaluation. Subsequently, chemometric methods such as principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were used to identify the patterns and differences of G. uralensis samples from different origins by SIMCA 14.0 software. Further, the key discriminant markers were identified based on the variable importance projection (VIP) values. Finally, the contents of the five characteristic markers were determined. Results UPLC fingerprints of 30 batches of G. uralensis samples were established. The similarities between each sample batch and the reference fingerprint varied but all exceeded 0.849. This indicates that while the overall chemical profiles of the samples were generally consistent, quantitative differences existed. Chemometric analysis showed clear clustering trends for samples from different origins, and the consistent results of PCA and HCA confirmed the presence of chemical differences among the origins. The OPLS-DA model effectively distinguished different origins, and the permutation test confirmed the reliability of the model. Five key characteristic markers were selected based on VIP > 1. The content determination results indicated that the contents of the five characteristic markers in G. uralensis from different origins varied significantly, further confirming the differences in chemical components among the origins. Conclusion The UPLC fingerprint combined with chemometrics (PCA, HCA, OPLS-DA) analysis method established in this study can effectively distinguish G. uralensis from different origins, and glycyrrhizin, glycyrrhizic acid, liquiritin apioside, glycyrrhizin B, and violanthin can be used as key characteristic markers for origin discrimination. This analytical system provides a reliable strategy and data support for objectively evaluating the quality differences of G. uralensis from different origins, identifying their origin sources, and improving future quality standards.

Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.  /  characteristic markers  /  fingerprint chromatogram  /  glycyrrhizin, glycyrrhizic acid  /  liquiritin apioside  /  glycyrrhizin B  /  violanthin  /  chemometrics  /  quality difference