Objective: To establish HPLC fingerprint of Prunella vulgaris and provide evidence for quality control and identification of the Chinese crude drug.
Methods: The HPLC method was used, chromatography conditions were Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18 (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) column with gradient mobile phase of acetonitrile-0.1% acetic acid, UV detection wavelength was 290 nm and the column temperature was 30 degrees C with the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, the sample injection was 10 microL.
Results: HPLC fingerprints of 19 samples of Prunella vulgaris were established. 14 common peaks were selected as the fingerprint peaks in all samples. Among the obtained fingerprints, most of the detected peaks were separated effectively. 19 samples had high similarities.
Conclusion: The established HPLC fingerprint has desirable accuracy, repeatability and stability, which can be used for one of the quality control methods of Prunella vulgaris.