OBJECTIVEUsed HPLC to set up fingerprint of medicinal-plant Scutellaria tsinyunensis collected from Jinyun mountain of Chongqing, and to determine four flavonoids in its root, stem and leaf.

METHODAnalysis was carried out on a COSMOSIL C18-PAQ column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) with acetonitrile and H2O-H3PO4-THF(85:12:0.3) as the mobile phases in a gradient elution, with a flow rate of 1.0 mL x min(-1). The column temperature was 30 TC, and the detection wavelength was 275 nm. The fingerprints of ten populations were determined, and the data were analyzed by the similarity evaluation software.

RESULTThe mutual mode of HPLC fingerprint was established. There were 14 common peaks in all, each peak was well separated. The peak was steady and showed good repeatability. Compared with the mutual mode, the similarities of 10 samples were 0.987 0.994, 0.993, 0.971, 0.983, 0.994, 0.981, 0.981, 0.988, 0.972, and the average similarity was 0.984. The chromatographic profiles of 10 samples were very similar. The four flavonoids were determined successfully by this method. The results showed that the content of flavonoids in the root was the most, and the leaf was the least.

CONCLUSIONThis method was steady and reliable which could be applied in identification, genetic diversity analysis, protection and utilization of S. tsinyunensis.