Studies on HPLC fingerprint of alcohol extracts from Radix Satviae Miltiorrhizae

OBJECTIVE To establish the HPLC fingerprint of alcohol extracts from Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae for reflecting the internal chemical information of radix salviae miltiorrhizae and evaluating its internal quality, and to preliminarily reveal the relation between the fingerprint and drug action. METHODS Gradient elution HPLC was used to analyze the alcohol extracts of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae. RESULTS Cryptotanshinone was used as the reference substance and the fingerprint of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae was established. The correlation technical parameters of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae were obtained i.e. the main common peak with relative retention rime and relative peak area. Finally the samples of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhiza from four production areas were analyzed. It was showed that the repeatability of the relative retention times was good(RSD1.0% )for the main common peak and the relative peak areas had significant differences. CONCLUSION The fingerprint can be used to evaluate the quality of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae. Through analyzing the fingerprint, the strength or thedirection of the therapy action of the herb may be evaluated.