HR-LCMS/MS-Based Dereplication of Plant-Derived Autophagy Inducers Revealed Astragalus dasyanthus as a New Glabrol Producer

Background/Objectives: Autophagy is an important cellular self-cleansing process whose normal functioning is essential for preventing many age-related diseases. The search for and study of new autophagy activators allows the proposal of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of age-related diseases. Medical plants are a rich source of bioactive compounds with variable functions. In this study, we propose an HR-LCMS/MS-based technique for identifying the principal autophagy activators in plant extracts. Methods: We performed a Western blot analysis of the autophagy-inducing activity of plant extract HPLC fractions on a model of SH-SY5Y cells. The composition of the fractions showing autophagy-activating potential was determined via HR-LCMS/MS. Results: We analyzed five plants known to produce autophagy activators and proved the ability of the method to detect the main bioactive compounds. Additional screening demonstrated for the first time that Astragalus dasyanthus is a producer of the autophagy-inducer glabrol. Conclusions: The described HR-LCMS/MS-based method for identifying autophagy activators in multicomponent plant extracts is effective and could be used for further high-throughput screening.