Chromatographic analysis of Fritillaria isosteroidal alkaloids, the activeingredients of Beimu, the antitussive traditional Chinese medicinal herb

Bulbus Fritillariae derived from plants of various Fritillaria species is t he most commonly used antitussive traditional Chinese medicinal herb and is called Beimu. Herbs derived from similar and/or different species of Friti llaria are also used in Japan and Turkey as traditional or folk medicines. Isosteroidal alkaloids are the main bioactive ingredients in Fritillaria sp ecies. As the contents and structure types of these bioactive alkaloids var y in different Fritillaria species, quality control of these active princip les in herbal Beimu is very important to ensure its safe and effective clin ical use. This review describes the development of chromatographic analyses for the simultaneous qualitative and quantitative determination of the mai n bioactive Fritillaria isosteroidal alkaloids in herbal and biological sam ples. The recently developed direct HPLC-evaporative light scattering detec tion method is the most simple, selective and sensitive assay, and is readi ly used as a suitable quality control method for the analysis of the active principles of herbal Beimu. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.