OBJECTIVETo establish a method for fingerprinting of Fuzhisan (FZS, a traditional Chinese medicinal preparation) using high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet and evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-UV/ELSD) to allow simultaneous determination of 5 major constituents in the preparation.

METHODSHPLC-UV/ELSD analysis was performed on water AlltechC18 column (5 microm, 4.6 mm x 250 mm) with a mixture of acetonitrile (A) and 0.1% acetice acid water (B) as the mobile phase. The solvent A gradient for elution was 0, 12%; 25, 20%; 30, 20%; 75, 30%; 105, 40%; 120, 80%; 130, 12%, with the flow rate of 1.0 ml/min; and the column temperature at 30 degrees . The detective wavelength was 335 nm, drift tube temperature was 80 degrees , pressure of nebulizer gas was 25 psi. The similarities between the HPLC-UV/ELSD fingerprints of the 12 extracts were calculated using similarity evaluation software.

RESULTSThe fingerprint of FZS was established and the 5 major constituents were identified. The complementarity between the fingerprints of UV and ELSD was analyzed, showing good correlation between 12 batches of FZS.

CONCLUSIONThe method for fingerprinting can simultaneously characterize the main chemical constituents in FZS and allows stable, effective and comprehensive quality control and evaluation of FZS for a single sample.