Origin discrimination and quality evaluation of Gastrodiae rhizoma (Orchidaceae) by high-performance liquid chromatographic fingerprint

Purpose: To develop a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprint method for the quality control and origin discrimination of Gastrodiae rhizoma . Methods: Twelve batches of G. rhizoma collected from Sichuan, Guizhou and Shanxi provinces in china were used to establish the fingerprint. The chromatographic peak (gastrodin) was taken as the reference peak, and all sample separation was performed on a Agilent C18 (250 mm×4.6 mmx5 μm) column with a column temperature of 25 °C. The mobile phase was acetonitrile/0.8 % phosphate water solution (in a gradient elution mode) and the flow rate of 1 mL/min. The detection wavelength was 270 nm. The method was validated as per the guidelines of Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Results: The chromatograms of the samples showed 11 common peaks, of which no. 4 was identified as that of Gastrodin. Data for the samples were analyzed statistically using similarity analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). The similarity index between reference chromatogram and samples’ chromatograms were all > 0.80. The similarity index of G. rhizoma from Guizhou, Shanxi and Sichuan is evident as follows: 0.854 - 0.885, 0.915 - 0.930 and 0.820 - 0.848, respectively. The samples could be divided into three clusters at a rescaled distance of 7.5: S1 - S4 as cluster 1; S5 - S8 cluster 2, and others grouped into cluster 3. Conclusion: The findings indicate that HPLC fingerprinting technology is appropriate for quality control and origin discrimination of G. rhizoma.

Quality evaluation of cortex berberidis from different geographical origins by simultaneous high performance liquid chromatography combined with statistical methods

Purpose: To develop an effective method for evaluating the quality of Cortex berberidis from different geographical origins. Methods: A simple, precise and accurate high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was first developed for simultaneous quantification of four active alkaloids (magnoflorine, jatrorrhizine, palmatine, and berberine) in Cortex berberidis obtained from Qinghai, Tibet and Sichuan Provinces of China. Method validation was performed in terms of precision, repeatability, stability, accuracy, and linearity. Besides, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were applied to study the quality variations of Cortex berberidis from various geographical origins. Results: The proposed HPLC method showed good linearity, precision, repeatability, and accuracy. The four alkaloids were detected in all samples of Cortex berberidis. Among them, magnoflorine (36.46 - 87.30 mg/g) consistently showed the highest amounts in all the samples, followed by berberine (16.00 - 37.50 mg/g). The content varied in the range of 0.66 - 4.57 mg/g for palmatine and 1.53 - 16.26 mg/g for jatrorrhizine, respectively. The total content of the four alkaloids ranged from 67.62 to 114.79 mg/g. Moreover, the results obtained by the PLS-DA and ANOVA showed that magnoflorine level and the total content of these four alkaloids in Qinghai and Tibet samples were significantly higher (p < 0.01) than those in Sichuan samples. Conclusion: Quantification of multi-ingredients by HPLC combined with statistical methods provide an effective approach for achieving origin discrimination and quality evaluation of Cortex berberidis. The quality of Cortex berberidis closely correlates to the geographical origin of the samples, with Cortex berberidis samples from Qinghai and Tibet exhibiting superior qualities to those from Sichuan.

Postnatal Evaluation and Outcome of Prenatal Hydronephrosis

Background: Prenatal hydronephrosis (PNH) is dilation in urinary collecting system and is the most frequent neonatal urinary tract abnormality with an incidence of 1% to 5% of all pregnancies. PNH is defined as anteroposterior diameter (APD) of renal pelvis ≥ 4 mm at gestational age (GA) of < 33 weeks and APD ≥ 7 mm at GA of ≥ 33 weeks to 2 months after birth. All patients need to be evaluated after birth by postnatal renal ultrasonography (US). In the vast majority of cases, watchful waiting is the only thing to do; others need medical or surgical therapy. Objectives: There is a direct relationship between APD of renal pelvis and outcome of PNH. Therefore we were to find the best cutoff point APD of renal pelvis which leads to surgical outcome. Patients and Methods: In this retrospective cohort study we followed 200 patients 1 to 60 days old with diagnosis of PNH based on before or after birth ultrasonography; as a prenatal or postnatal detected, respectively. These patients were referred to the nephrology clinic in Zahedan Iran during 2011 to 2013. The first step of investigation was a postnatal renal US, by the same expert radiologist and classifying the patients into 3 groups; normal, mild/moderate and severe. The second step was to perform voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) for mild/moderate to severe cases at 4 - 6 weeks of life. Tc-diethylene triamine-pentaacetic acid (DTPA) was the last step and for those with normal VCUG who did not show improvement in follow-up examination, US to evaluate obstruction and renal function. Finally all patients with mild/moderate to severe PNH received conservative therapy and surgery was preserved only for progressive cases, obstruction or renal function ≤35%. All patients’ data and radiologic information was recorded in separate data forms, and then analyzed by SPSS (version 22). Results: 200 screened PNH patients with male to female ratio 3.5:1 underwent first postnatal control US, of whom 65% had normal, 18% mild/moderate and 17% severe hydronephrosis. 167 patients had VCUG of whom 20.82% with VUR. 112 patients performed DTPA with following results: 50 patients had obstruction and 62 patients showed no obstructive finding. Finally 54% of 200 patients recovered by conservative therapy, 12.5% by surgery and remaining improved without any surgical intervention. Conclusions: The best cutoff point of anteroposterior renal pelvis diameter that led to surgery was 15 mm, with sensitivity 88% and specificity 74%.