Fingerprint study of Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora by UPLC coupled with chemometrics method / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective To establish the UPLC fingerprint for effective quality control and scientific evaluation of Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora. Methods The analysis was performed on Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm), using acetonitrile-0.5% glacial acetic acid aqueous solution as mobile phase for gradient elution, with the flow rate at 0.3 mL/min, the column temperature at 32 ℃, and the detection wavelength at 295 nm. Total of 25 batches of P. scrophulariiflora and its adulterants were analyzed. Similarity evaluation combined with hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) and principal components analysis (PCA) were used to evaluate the quality of herbs from different batches. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography- quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) was used for qualitative analysis in the positive and negative ion modes. Results There were significant differences in fingerprint chromatogram among P. scrophulariiflora and its adulterants. There were 16 common peaks in UPLC fingerprint of 22 batches of P. scrophulariiflora, and 12 peaks among which were carried out for chemical components identification with the similarity at 0.939-0.998. Twenty-two samples could be classified into three clusters. The PCA result was consistent with that of HCA. The four symbolic compounds in samples were verified by PLS-DA analysis, which identified that No.1, 12, 9 peaks were picroside I, picroside III, and scrophenoside C. Conclusion The establishment of UPLC fingerprint and the recognition of chemical pattern of P. scrophulariiflora can provide a more comprehensive reference for the quality control of herbs.