Background: Astragalus, as a common traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has many pharmacological effects, such as protection of nerves, heart, blood vessels, kidneys, etc. It can also be used to treat colds, numbness, diarrhea, indigestion, and anemia. Because of the current market, there are a large number of synonyms, synonyms, and multiple sources of one medicine. The use of near-edge plants in medicine and other fake, substandard as a good phenomenon also prevails.
Methods: In this study, a method combining electrochemical fingerprinting with SPSS software was developed to identify the origin of Astragalus membranaceus. The electrochemical fingerprints of Astragalus membranaceus with different accessions and different origins were examined using an electrochemical workstation. Then the characteristic parameters were selected to achieve the origin identification of Astragalus with SPSS software using cluster analysis and discriminant analysis.
Results: The results of this method divided the origin of Astragalus into the Qinling production area and other production areas
Conclusion: This method can be used to identify the origin of Astragalus membranaceus, which provides a new method to identify Astragalus membranaceus and other TCM without extracting the active ingredients of Chinese medicines, in line with the traditional "holistic" treatment concept of TCM.