ABSTRACT
Objective: To study and compare the content of two flavonoids and two saponins in Ziziphi Spinosae Semen from seven major producing areas in China, and to provide high quality sources of medicinal materials. Methods: Investigation and sample collection of seven major production areas were carried out in 2016 and 2017 and a total of 74 samples were collected. UPLC-UV-ELSD liquid phase method was used to determine the content of two flavones, spironol and 6’’’-ferulinyl spironol, as well as two saponins jujuboside A and jujuboside B. Results: In 2016 and 2017, the content of spinolin in the samples was 0.052%-0.102% and 0.049%-0.144%, respectively. The content of 6’’’-ferulinyl spironol was 0.021%-0.072% and 0.026%-0.088%, respectively. The content of jujuboside A was 0.016%-0.061% and 0.033%-0.054%, respectively. The content of jujuboside B was 0.008%-0.046% and 0.005%-0.046%, respectively. Conclusion: By correlation analysis, there was no significant difference in the content of each component among the seven major production areas. The producing areas with high spinosin content are Linfen, Shanxi (including Daning and Jixian), Shexian, Hebei, Qian’ an, Hebei, Qingyang, Gansu, Meixian, Shaanxi, Heyang, Shaanxi, Jianchang, Liaoning, and Jixian, Tianjin. The producing areas with high content of jujuboside A are most places of Shandong province, Neiqiu, Hebei and Weinan, Shaanxi. Considering the content of two kinds of components, Shandong Province is generally high and has little change. The correlation analysis also showed that the content of two flavonoids had good correlation, but the content of two saponins had poor correlation.