ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To establish an HPLC method to simultaneously determine the contents of geniposidic acid, caffeic acid, acteoside and isoacteoside in Plantaginis Semen formula granules, in order to provide basis for studying its quality standards. METHODS: An HPLC method was developed. Kinetex C18 column (2.1 mm×100 mm, 2.6 μm)was used and eluted with mobile phase of 0.5% acetic acid-acetonitrile at the flow rate of 0.3 mL·min-1. The wavelength was set at 239 nm for geniposidic acid, 325 nm for caffeic acid, and 330 nm for acteoside and isoacteoside. The column temperature was maintained at 30℃. RESULTS: The good linear relationships between the concentration and peak area were in the range of 0.292 1-2.92 1 μg for geniposidic acid, 0.003 4-0.033 6 μg for caffeic acid, 0.047 6-0.476 μg for acteoside and 0.102 7-1.027 μg for isoacteoside (r≥0.999 8), respectively. The average recoveries were 99.32%, 98.62%, 98.23% and 98.51% with RSDs of 1.47%, 1.36%, 1.62% and 1.53%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The method is simple, feasible and reproducible and can be used for the quality control of Plantaginis Semen formula granules.