Quantitative and Chemical Fingerprint Analysis for the Quality Evaluation of Platycodi Radix Collected from Various Regions in China by HPLC Coupled with Chemometrics

摘要

Platycodi Radix (PR) is the root of Platycodon grandiflorum (Jacq.) A. DC., which has beenused for a long time in China to treat pulmonary diseases. The present study aimed to evaluatethe quality of PR samples collected from 23 regions of 11 provinces in China. Eight saponinswere quantified using HPLC coupled with evaporative light scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD).The samples with the highest total contents of saponins were from southern China, such as Yunnan,Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Guangzhou. The fingerprint analysis of PR samples was conducted byHPLC-UV method. Nineteen common peaks were selected and the similarity values varied from0.607 to 0.921. These findings indicated that the saponins contents of PR from different regionsvaried significantly, with PR samples from southern China having the highest contents of saponins.These comprehensive methods were successful in evaluating the quality of PR samples from northernand southern China, which will serve as a guide for the development of PR as a clinical medication.