Macau Institute for Applied Research in Medicine and Health, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau.
J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2010 Aug 1;52(4):452-60. doi: 10.1016/j.jpba.2010.01.025. Epub 2010 Jan 20.
Epimedium herb (Yinyanghuo), one of the popular Chinese materia medica, is a multiple species colony of Epimedium genus belonging to Berberidaceae. There are five species of Epimedium that have been officially adopted in Chinese Pharmacopoeia under the same crude drug name 'Yinyanghuo' comprising Epimedium brevicornu, E. koreanum, E. sagittatum, E. pubescens, and E. wushanense. In addition, non-official species like E. acuminatum, E. miryanthum and E. leptorrhizum are also mix-used. Frequently, the morphological taxonomical identification is very difficult during on-site inspection for species authentication in the market. Researchers are often bewildered by the multiple species ambiguity when putting this crude drug in use. Referring to the bioactive constituents that are vital for therapeutic efficacy, the key to clarifying the multiple species confusion should rely on analysis of the bioactive composition. It is well known that medicinal Epimedium herbs contain special C-8 prenylated flavonol glycosides which contribute to various bioactivities and the major four, epimedin A (A), epimedin B (B), epimedin C (C) and icariin (I), are unanimously used as bioactive markers for quality control. In this study, HPLC-DAD fingerprinting was performed for investigating the molecular spectrum of various Epimedium species. It was found that the four major flavonoids constitute the middle part of the chromatographic profiles to form a specific region (named as 'ABCI fingerprint region') being dominant in the HPLC profiles of all medicinal Epimedium species, and the five official species express five different 'ABCI' patterns (different peak: peak ratios). Our study found that the convergent tendency of the 'ABCI region' among multiple species of Epimedium could facilitate differentiation of complex commercial samples based on similar bioactive composition should confer similar bioactivities. Merging the different species that possess the same 'ABCI region' pattern into the same group can create a simpler bioactive-fraction-aided classification array by clustering the commercial samples into three bioactive ingredients-based fingerprint patterns - 'E.b. pattern', 'E.k. pattern' and 'extensive E.w. pattern'. This approach offers the feasibility of characterizing and quality-controlling complex samples in the same genus designated under a single herbal drug entity on the premise of possessing the same bioactive ingredients pattern and supported by long-term traditional usage.
淫羊藿（Yinyanghuo）是一种常见的中草药，属于小檗科淫羊藿属的多种物种群体。在中国药典中，有五种淫羊藿物种被正式采用相同的草药名称“Yinyanghuo”，包括短角淫羊藿、朝鲜淫羊藿、箭叶淫羊藿、柔毛淫羊藿和巫山淫羊藿。此外，非官方物种如淫羊藿、密叶淫羊藿和淫羊藿也被混合使用。在市场上进行物种鉴定的现场检查中，形态分类学鉴定通常非常困难。研究人员在使用这种草药时经常对多种物种的模糊性感到困惑。参考对治疗效果至关重要的生物活性成分，澄清多种物种混淆的关键应该依赖于生物活性成分的分析。众所周知，药用淫羊藿含有特殊的 C-8 异戊烯基黄酮醇糖苷，这些糖苷有助于各种生物活性，其中主要的四种，淫羊藿苷 A（A）、淫羊藿苷 B（B）、淫羊藿苷 C（C）和淫羊藿苷 I（I），被一致用作质量控制的生物活性标志物。在本研究中，进行了 HPLC-DAD 指纹图谱分析，以研究各种淫羊藿物种的分子谱。结果发现，这四种主要的黄酮类化合物构成了色谱图谱的中间部分，形成了一个特定的区域（命名为“ABCI 指纹区域”），在所有药用淫羊藿物种的 HPLC 图谱中占主导地位，这五个官方物种表现出五种不同的“ABCI”模式（不同的峰：峰比）。我们的研究发现，淫羊藿多种物种的“ABCI 区域”的趋同趋势可以促进基于相似生物活性成分的复杂商业样品的分化，应该赋予相似的生物活性。将具有相同“ABCI 区域”模式的不同物种合并到同一组中，可以通过将商业样品聚类为三个基于生物活性成分的指纹图谱模式——“E.b. 模式”、“E.k. 模式”和“广泛的 E.w. 模式”，创建一个更简单的基于生物活性成分的分类数组。这种方法提供了在具有相同生物活性成分模式的前提下，对同一属中指定的复杂样品进行特征描述和质量控制的可行性，并得到长期传统使用的支持。
