Several factors affecting the HPLC-fingerprinting of Panax notoginseng

Aim: To study how can the way and the degree of dryness and the period of storage of crude drug samples affect the HPLC-fingerprinting of Panax notoginseng. Method: The HPLC-fingerprinting method: Luna C₁₈ analytical column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm); acetonitrile-water as gradient eluent with flow rate at 1.0 ml/min, detective wavelength at 200nm. Notoginseng samples made in different ways of dryness and samples in different degrees of dryness and different moments of storage were analyzed to discover how can they affect the HPLC-fingerprinting of notoginseng. Two shapes of notoginseng, notoginseng in integrity and pieces, were dried in shade and by baking (35 °C) respectively. Notoginseng in integrity, in pieces and in powder which had been stored for 0 days, 10 days, 20 days, 30 days(1 months), 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months were analyzed individually. Result: (1) Different drying ways work on the components of notoginseng in different ways: some components were affected more by the temperature and period of dryness, which had higher area values of peaks under drying in heat (or in shade); some were affected more by the shape of drug, which had higher peak area value in the shape of pieces (or integrity); some were affected by the both factors mentioned above. (2) In the experiment, Peak No. 15, whose relative peak area is 12.7%-28.1% in fresh and drying drugs, was discovered to be characteristic. Its relative peak area was keeping on declining during drying and dropped to 0.2% when the drug was dried completely. However the value rose to 0.7% ∼ 1.4% when the dried drug was hydrated, so the reaction was concluded to be reversible. (3) The discipline of changes during storage was found: two peaks(No. 10 and No. 12), areas kept on going up during storage, while most others' went down; drug of different shapes changed differently, e. g. drug in powder changed more rapidly than that in pieces and integrity. Conclusion: The way and the degree of dryness and the period of storage all can affect the HPLC-FPS of notoginseng in a certain extent.