Simultaneous Determination of Eight Phenylethanoid Glycosides in Different Species of the Genus Cistanche by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

Although Traditional Chinese Medicine has been used for several thousands of years in clinical practice, the efficacy, quality, and safety of many medical herbs remain uncertain. There is an increasing need for improving analytical methods that can be used for identification of active components and quality control of traditional Chinese medicine. In the present study, a high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed to simultaneously determine eight phenylethanoid glycosides in different species of the genus Cistanche, namely acteoside, 2′-acetylacteoside, cistanoside A, cistanoside C, cistanoside F, echinacoside, isoacteoside, and tubuloside A. The HPLC assay was performed on an Akasil C18 column with a gradient elution of methanol and 0.1% aqueous methanoic acid for 70 min. The detection wavelength was 330 nm. All of the compounds showed good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.9991). The method was reproducible with intra- and inter-day variations of less than 5%. The recovery of the assay was in the range of 94.43–105.44%. The method was successfully applied to the quantification of all the eight constituents in the test samples. The results indicate that the developed assay can be considered as a suitable method for the quality control of the genus Cistanche.