RESUMO
Objective To establish ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detector (UPLC-ELSD) method to determine the content of astragaloside in Guiqi Yiqi Yangxue Mixture and optimize the best water decoction process of the mixture.Methods The UPLC-ELSD conditions to determine the content of astragaloside in the mixture were as follow.The method was carried out on a Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 mm ×50 mm,1.7 μm) by using acetonitrile-water (35∶65) as mobile phase, and the flow rate was 0.3 mL/min and the column temperature 30℃.The parameter of ELSD:the drift tube temperature was set at 60℃, and the gas flow rate of N2 2.0 L/min.The content of paeoniflorin in the mixture was detected by previously established HPLC method.The orthogonal test was designed to optimize the water decoction process of the amount of water (A), decoction time (B) and decoction times (C), and the extract yield and the contents of astragaloside and paeoniflorin were evaluated as the comprehensive markers for the purpose.Results The UPLC-ELSD determination of astragaloside had a good linear relationship (r =0.9999), its mean recovery was 103.0%, and it had a good precision, specificity and repeatability.The orthogonal experimental results showed that decoction times (C) >the amount of water (A) >decoction time (B) were major factors affecting the decoction process in order and the ANOVA result showed that decoction times has significant effect on the decoction process (P<0.05).The optimal process of Guiqi Yiqi Yangxue Mixture was adding eight-fold water each time to decoct twice for 1.5 h totally.Conclusion This optimized water decoction process is feasible and stable, and suitable for industrialized production.