Qualitative and quantitative analysis of polyphenolic compounds from clone plants of Actaea racemosa L. by high-performance thin layer chromatography and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

Black Cohosh [Actaea racemosa L. (Ranunculaceae)] is widely used in the treatment of climacteric disorders. In the last years the market for medicinal products from its rhizome extracts grew heavily. This led in an increasing demand for the plant material, whereby the natural population is compromised and adulteration with other Actaea species takes place [1, 2]. Thus, especially in order to achieve reproducible quality, efficacy and safety of the medicinal products, manufacturers started to clone and cultivate Black Cohosh [3]. However, homogeneity of those plant materials regarding their containing compounds has never been investigated.

Therefore we phytochemically characterized the rhizomes from 40 clone plants and compared the data to plants from different origins. We developed and validated a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method with UV detection to determine the polyphenolic constituents such as fukinolic acid and cimicifugic acids, whose identity was ensured by mass spectrometric experiments.

The variation of the compounds concentration we investigated for the clone plants, was slightly higher than the variation of the method itself (RSD< 3,0%). The data shows that in reference to plants from different origins the plant material derived by cloning and cultivation is remarkable homogeneous regarding the mentioned compounds.

References:

[1] Spring S, Tonnage Survey of Select North American Wild-Harvested Plants, 2004 – 2005. American Herbal Products Association, 2007.

[2] Jiang B et al., Evaluation of the botanical authenticity and phytochemical profile of black cohosh products by high-performance liquid chromatography with selected ion monitoring liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. J Agric Food Chem, 2006; 54: 3242 – 3253

[3] Popp M Schenk R, Abel G, Cultivation of Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) nuttal and quality of CR extract BNO 1055. Maturitas 2003; 44: S1-S7