Metabolic Fingerprinting of Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merr. Leaf Extracts

The leaves of Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merr. have been traditionally used in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia as food and herbal product for various medicinal purposes. It is worth noting that different concentrations of metabolites in herbal medicine, cultivated in several different geographic locations, may result in different therapeutic effects. The present study was aimed to identify the metabolic profiles of S. androgynus extracts. This is the first report on metabolomic study of S. androgynus leaf extracts from six different geographic locations. S. androgynus leaf extracts from twelve samples were subjected to study the metabolic fingerprinting using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) method. S. androgynus data from various locations were grouped and classified by Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis, respectively. The samples from Purwosari alone was merged into one group or a cluster and the other samples were merged into the other cluster, while samples from East Surabaya and Trenggalek showed the close relationship in score plot of PCA and in the dendrogram. Metabolic fingerprinting of S. androgynus by GC-MS shows clearly that S. androgynus leaf extracts from several various different geographic locations contain many biologically active compounds in various concentrations.