Flavonoids rather than alkaloids as the diagnostic constituents to distinguish Sophorae Flavescentis Radix from Sophorae Tonkinensis Radix et Rhizoma: an HPLC fingerprint study

Sophorae Flavescentis Radix (Sophora flavescens Ait., SFR) and Sophorae Tonkinensis Radix et Rhizoma (S. tonkinensis Gapnep., STR) are two commonly used traditional Chinese medicines from Sophora (Leguminosae) plants, which are believed to possess similar bioactive components with entirely different clinical applications. In order to find out the characteristic chemical constituents potentially leading to the unique medicinal properties claimed for each of the two closely related TCMs, an HPLC fingerprint method was developed for analyses of the alkaloid and flavonoid constituents of SFR and STR, respectively, which were further evaluated and compared through similarity calculation and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). The results from the present study showed that the alkaloid fingerprints of the two herbs were similar, with many components co-existing in both drugs and various batches of samples from different species being mixed together in the HCA dendrogram. However, their flavonoid constituents were totally different with specific fingerprints being yielded for each herb, and further HCA analysis showed that the tested samples could almost be clearly divided into two groups based on their origins of species. The results from the present study indicated that the flavonoid constituents could serve as the differentially diagnostic constituents of SFR and STR and might potentially attributed to their distinct therapeutic effects.