Accumulation rules of effective constituents in Farfarae Flos of different growth stage based on HPLC characteristic fingerprint / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the accumulation patterns of active constituents in Farfarae Flos with different flower bud colors (yellow, purple, and deep purple) at different growth stages, and provide theoretical guidance for the production and quality control of Farfarae Flos. Methods The medicinal materials of Farfarae Flos of different growth stages with different colors were determinated by HPLC method. The Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of TCM (2012 A edition) was used to evaluate the similarity of the samples. The differences among samples were identified by chemical pattern recognition methods including hierarchical principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminate analysis (PLS-DA). Results The HPLC fingerprint of different flower bud colors of Farfarae Flos at different growth stages was obtained, 27 common peaks were found in the chromatography, and 11 of them were identified. Similarities of samples of all batches with reference fingerprint were among 0.901-0.995. There were differences in the accumulation characteristics of Farfarae Flos at different growth stages according to the peak area, and showing significant differences among different flower bud colors. PCA and PLS-DA results demonstrated obvious distinction among different flower bud colors. Twelve constituents, such as gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, rutin, hyperin, isochlorogenic acid B and quercetin, were screened as biomarkers, representing major differences among colors. The quality evaluation demonstrated that deep purple buds was the best, followed by purple buds and yellow buds for the worst. Conclusion The HPLC fingerprint can reflect the accumulation characteristics of the active constituents of Farfarae Flos in different growth stages and the differences among different flower bud colors. Combining chemical pattern recognition can provide reference for the production and quality evaluation of Farfarae Flos.