Study on the Chromatographic Fingerprinting of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. by LC Coupled with Principal Component Analysis

Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. is a rich source of lignans with diverse biological activities. Quantitative analysis and chromatographic fingerprinting of the fruitlets of the plant by liquid chromatography (LC) were performed in order to characterize and evaluate the region-related variation. Using the optimized LC method, satisfactory linearity and repeatability were obtained for all the test standards. This method was subsequently applied for the identification and quantitation of six lignans in fruitlets of Schisandra chinensis by comparing the retention time with that of authentic standards available. Principal component analysis (PCA) was also employed to assess the similarity and dissimilarity of the fingerprint profiles from different origins encompassing eleven areas from China and two samples from Japan. The work suggested that the fruitlets of Schisandra chinensis from Japan exhibited great difference with those from China as evidenced by the clear separation in the PCA scores plot as well as quantitative analysis e.g., schisandrin and deoxyschisandrin are 5.50 μg mg −1 (X ) and 0.90 μg mg −1 (X ) in the materials from China and 3.40 μg mg −1 (X ) and 1.90 μg mg −1 (X ) in the materials from Japan, respectively. Such a reliable method potentially provides an effective and convenient method for quality control of herbal medicine from different regions.