Combined ecological-chemical-pharmacological analysis of the ecological suitability and quality zoning of the Tinosporae Radix

The Tinosporae Radix is favored as a treatment for pharyngitis and is now regarded as the first choice of traditional Chinese medicine as an alternative to antibiotics. However, its wild resources are on the verge of extinction due to over-excavation by human beings, and the quality of the cultivated products varies, so it is urgent to search for the key biological factors affecting the growth and development process of Tinosporae Radix as well as the suitable ecological zones. In this study, we used MaxEnt model and Arcgis spatial analysis technology to predict the suitable growing area of Tinosporae Radix, and found four key environmental factors affecting the quality of Tinosporae Radix. In this paper, we used UPLC analysis to obtain the fingerprints of Tinosporae Radix, and found that the most relevant components for the anti-inflammatory effect of Tinosporae Radix included columbin and several alkaloids, and the correlation analysis with the relevant biotic factors revealed that Tinosporae Radix is suitable for growing in Southwest China, and that Tinosporae Radix with higher content of columbin is suitable for growing in the region of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and that Tinosporae Radix with higher content of alkaloids is suitable for growing in the borders between Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Hunan, which are all characterized by karst landscapes. And all these places are dominated by karst landscape. In vitro analysis of anti-inflammatory efficacy showed that the anti-inflammatory efficacy was good regardless of the high content of either type of components. In this paper, we evaluated the quality of Tinosporae Radix herbs in the suitable habitat obtained by model prediction through the method of "chemical evaluation" associated with "anti-inflammatory" efficacy, and obtained an innovative "ecological-chemical-pharmacological efficacy" evaluation method, which is a good method to evaluate the quality of Tinosporae Radix herbs in the suitable habitat. The results of this method can be used to guide the production of Tinosporae Radix with a high content of columbin or alkaloids, laying the foundation for the establishment of standardized artificial cultivation of Tinosporae Radix, and at the same time, providing theoretical support for the delineation of Tinosporae Radix's suitable areas, the utilization of its resources, and the extension of the industrial chain.