The flower bud of Tussilago farfara L.,also known as Farfarae Flos(FF),is commonly used in the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)for the treatment of cough,bronchitis and asthmatic disorders.In this study,26 samples from five provinces across northern China were collected,and internal transcribed spacer-polymerase chain reaction(ITS-PCR)coupled with high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)fingerprint profiling was used for the quality evaluation of FF.The results of the ITS sequence analysis showed the high similarity values among these samples.ITS2 sequence exhibited less molecular diversity compared with ITS1,and no obvious correlation was found between the variation of ITS with the production areas or cultivation methods.The results of HPLC fingerprints in combination with the similarity analysis suggested that relative contents of phenylpropanoids and flavonoids varied among the 26 FF samples,and there was also no obvious difference among the different habitats.The phenylpropanoids and the flavonoids showed similar fluctuating patterns,and positive correlation among them was also observed.The results presented in this study suggested that FF from different habits showed high similarities,and ITS-PCR coupled with HPLC fingerprint profiling could be used as a valuable approach for the quality evaluation of FF.
Zijuan LuYan JiaJie XingShuxian XiaoYulong WangWenjie QinXuemei QinZhenyu Li
