ABSTRACT
Objective: To compare the contents of phenolic acids and flavonoids in wild grown and cultivated Prunella vulgaris from various habitats, an HPLC method was established for simultaneous determination of five bioactive compounds (rosmarinic acid, salviaflaside, caffeic acid, rutin, and luteolin). Methods: The Agilent 5HC-C18 (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) was adopted with a gradient eluent system composed of acetonitrile and 0.1% phosphoric acid aqueous solution at the temperature of 30℃. The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min. The detection wavelength was 280 nm. Independent t-test (t-test), hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA), and correlation analysis were applied to analyzing and evaluating wild grown and cultivated P. vulgaris. Results: The t-test results showed that the contents difference of rosmarinic acid, rutin, caffeic acid, and luteolin had statistical significance (P 0.05). According to the result of HCA, most of the cultivated and wild materials could be differentiated. The result of correlation analysis showed that the ear length has no significant influence on the contents of main compounds in P. vulgaris. Conclusion: The determination method is simple and feasible, and it can be used as one of the quality evaluation method of P. vulgaris.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To develop a method of fingerprint analysis of Prunella vulgaris by HPLC for the quality control of P. vulgaris. METHODS: Twenty-eight samples of wild and cultivated P. vulgaris. obtained from different habitats were analyzed. The difference in the chromatographic fingerprints of P. vulgaris. samples between the two varieties was identified by chemometric methods including principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminate analysis (PLS-DA). The selected biomarkers were identified by comparing with reference standards. RESULTS: The fingerprint of P. vulgaris was established, and 12 common peaks and good similarities were found in the HPLC fingerprints of P. vulgaris from different habitats. PLS-DA result showed obvious distinction between the two varieties of P. vulgaris, while PCA showed poor distinguishing ability. Six compounds were screened as bio-markers, representing major differences between the two varieties. Four of them were identified as rutinum, rosmarinic acid, caffeic acid, and luteolin. CONCLUSION: The fingerprint analysis combined with chemical pattern recognition can be applied as a measure for the quality control and comprehensive evaluation of P. vulgaris.