Fingerprint Analysis of Matteuccia struthiopteris by HPLC for the Determination of the Identity of Commercial Guanzhong in China

Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Todaro belongs to the Onocleaceae family and its rhizome is used as traditional Chinese medicine. Its clinical use is the same as the rhizome of Dryopteris crassirhizoma, named as Mianma Guanzhong recorded in Chinese pharmacopoeia [1]. The research involved the investigation of commercial Guanzhong and showed that D. crassirhizoma, D. peninsulae, Woodwardia unigemmata, Blechnum orientale, Lunathyrium acrostichoides, and Osmunda japonica are also used as Guanzhong [2,3]. Chinese use them for the treatment of flu, bronchitis, verminosis and so on [4,5]. The aim of this study is to compare the chemical fingerprints of commercial Guanzhong by HPLC and to present a practical method to identify the source of commercial Guanzhong. A HPLC method for chemical fingerprinting of M. struthiopteris has been developed. Seven species of commercial Guanzhong and four M. struthiopteris collections from different sites were accomplished on a Zorbax SB-C₁₈ column using a gradient mobile phase of water (containing 0.1% H₃PO₄) and acetonitrile. Flow rate, detection wavelength and temperature were adjusted to 1.0 mL/min, 210nm and 30°C, respectively. The developed method was certified by a validation study. The HPLC fingerprints obtained from all the samples were compared by the software of chromatography fingerprint similarity evaluation system provided by The Pharmacopoeia Commission of P.R.China. The result of analysis showed that the HPLC fingerprints detected from M. struthiopteris collections differ from the HPLC fingerprints detected from other sources of commercial Guanzhong collections. The similarity of HPLC fingerprints is from 0.517 to 0.838 among seven commercial Guanzhong species, but the similarity is from 0.973 to 0.987 among the M. struthiopteris collections. This report presents a practical, rapid and reliable HPLC-method, which allows the identification of M. struthiopteris and other commercial Guanzhong species by fingerprint profiles. Acknowledgements: Thanks for the support from the innovation team of science and technology project (The Discovery and Development of Leading Compounds from TCM) of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. References: [1] The Pharmacopoeia Commission of P.R. China. (2010) The Pharmacopoeia of P.R. China, Vol. I: 310. [2] Gao Z, Wang B, et al. (2003) Zhong Yi Yao Xue Kan 21: 824–826. [3] Gao Z, Su Y, et al. (2009) Journal of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine 32: 568–570. [4] Peigen X. (2002) Xin Bian Zhong Yao Zhi II: 615–617. [5] Medical College of New Jiangsu. (1977) Zhong Yao Da Ci Dian, p.1484.