Determination of Triptolide in Different Ages of Root and Different Parts of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook f. by HPLC

OBJECTIVE To determine the content of triptolide in Tripterygium wilfordii Hook f. by HPLC, and to study the content of triptolide in different harvesting years and different parts of Tripterygium wilfordii. METHODS An external standard method was used with the mobile phase of methanol-water (45∶55). The wavelength for the detection was 218 nm and the flow rate was 1.0 mL·min-1. The column temperature was 25 ℃. RESULTS The linear range for the determination of triptolide was 1.026-10.26 μg·mL-1(r=0.999 9). The average recovery was 95.90% and RSD was 3.49% (n=6). CONCLUSION The method is simple and accurate. The results are sensitive and reproducible and may be used in the determination of triptolide in Tripterygium wilfordii Hook f.. The triptolide content is the highest in three-year root and lowest in one-year root. The triptolide content in root cortex is the highest, secondly is in the leaf, and in radical centre is the lowest.