Study on the HPLC Fingerprint and Simultaneous Determination of Three Triterpene Glycosides in Schefflera heptaphylla

OBJECTIVE: To establish the HPLC fingerprint and simultaneously determination three triterpene glycosides in Schefflera heptaphylla. METHODS: The separation was carried out on an Agilent Zorbax SB-C18 (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) column eluted with methanol--0.1% glacial acetic acid as the mobile phase, and samples were detected by an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD). The similarity evaluation system for chromatographic fingerprint of traditional Chinese medicine (Version 2004 A) was used in data analysis. RESULTS: Schefflera heptaphylla from different regions were similar and the separation of three triterpene glycosides was good. CONCLUSION: This method is simple and reliable. The HPLC fingerprint and contents of three kinds of triterpene glycosides of Schefflera heptaphylla can be used for their quality control.