Investigation on the marker substances of crude drugs in formulations. I. Marker substances for the identification of Astragali Radix in Kampo and drinkable preparations

There are few reports about marker substances for the identification of Ast ragali Radix in formulations. First, constituents analysis was performed by HPLC for the screening of a marker substance, using several lots of Astrag ali Radix and its fluid extracts. As a result of the analysis, one of the m ain components was clearly detected even in the fluid extracts, and thought to be a good marker substance. This component was identified to be calycos in (7,3'-dihydroxy-4'-methoxyisoflavone) by the structural analysis. Then, the identification methods of Astragali Radix and its fluid extracts in for mulations were investigated with an Astragali Radix extract as a reference standard solution and calycosin as a marker substance. This method was appl ied to three different kinds of Kampo formulations and three different kind s of drinkable preparations. Consequently, calycosin was clearly detected b y a HPLC-multi wavelength detector system, in all investigated formulations . Calycosin will be successfully used as a marker substance for the identif ication of Astragali Radix and its fluid extracts in formulations.