Abstract
The stems of Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo (Dendrobii Officinalis Caulis) have a high medicinal value as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Because of the limited supply, D. officinale is a high priced TCM, and therefore adulterants are commonly found in the herbal market. The dried stems of a closely related Dendrobium species, Dendrobium devonianum Paxt., are commonly used as the substitute; however, there is no effective method to distinguish the two Dendrobium species. Here, a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was successfully developed and applied to differentiate D. officinale and D. devonianum by comparing the chromatograms according to the characteristic peaks. A HPLC coupled with electrospray ionization multistage mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) method was further applied for structural elucidation of 15 flavonoids, 5 phenolic acids, and 1 lignan in D. officinale. Among these flavonoids, 4 flavonoid C-glycosides were firstly reported in D. officinale, and violanthin and isoviolanthin were identified to be specific for D. officinale compared with D. devonianum. Then, two representative components were used as chemical markers. A rapid and reliable high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method was applied in distinguishing D. officinale from D. devonianum. The results of this work have demonstrated that these developed analytical methods can be used to discriminate D. officinale and D. devonianum effectively and conveniently.
Highlights
Dendrobium is one of the largest genera among Orchidaceae family plants with more than 1400 species distributed all over the world, and 76 species are found in China [1]
Some Dendrobium species have long been used as precious tonic herbs (Chinese name: Shi-Hu) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which aims to promote the production of body fluids, benefit the stomach, moisten the lungs, and relieve cough [2]
The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprint analysis method was validated in terms of specificity, precision, repeatability, and stability according to Chinese Pharmacopoeia [19]
Summary
Dendrobium is one of the largest genera among Orchidaceae family plants with more than 1400 species distributed all over the world, and 76 species are found in China [1]. Some Dendrobium species have long been used as precious tonic herbs (Chinese name: Shi-Hu) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which aims to promote the production of body fluids, benefit the stomach, moisten the lungs, and relieve cough [2]. Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo (Dendrobii Officinalis Caulis) is one of the most expensive species among medicinal. TCM practitioners have widely used D. officinale stems to treat hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, chronic gastritis, and dim eyesight and strengthen immunity, as well as an anticancer and antiaging agent, clinically [3]. D. officinale stem is often dried directly or processed into a spiral shape while drying, which is named Tie-Pi-FengDou in Chinese, and is officially recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia [4]. Due to similar morphological characteristics and producing sites, Tie-Pi-Feng-Dou is often confused or mixused with Zi-Pi-Feng-Dou processed by another Dendrobium
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