engleski

Chromatographic fingerprinting of Berberis croatica vs. B. vulgaris (Common and Croatian barberry) using HPLC

In Croatia, two indigenous species of the Berberis L. genus, common barberry (B. vulgaris L.) and Croatian barberry (B. croatica Horvat), occur. While common barberry is a well known species growing in many parts of Europe, Croatian barberry is endemic to the illyric-balcanic region (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia) [1]. As a contribution to chemotaxonomy, differences of RP-HPLC chromatograms of B. croatica and B. vulgaris were investigated. Herbal samples were collected at six different locations (three locations per species) in Croatia. Methanolic extracts of roots, twigs, leaves and fruit were analysed with regard to their berberine content and chromatographic fingerprints. The HPLC conditions were: isocratic (TEA-adjusted 0.02 mol L-1 H3PO4 (pH 4.82)– acetonitrile (75:25)) and gradient elution (H2O/HCOOH, 9:1 followed by acetonitrile/HCOOH). Signals were detected at 205.4, 254.2 and 330.2 nm. Cluster analysis (UPGMA) was employed for evaluation of fingerprints. The average quantity of berberine in extracts of B. vulgaris was higher than in extracts of B. croatica. In extracts of roots it ranged from 7.85 to 12.19% and from 2.44 to 7.29%, for B. vulgaris and B. croatica, respectively. The quantity of berberine in extracts of twigs varied from 0.82 to 1.53% and from 0.48 to 0.63%, for B. vulgaris and B. croatica, respectively. Even though differences in the individual chromatograms of two species could be noted and UPGMA tended to group samples of the same species together, cluster analyses of fingerprints did not reveal important differences between the two species. This finding indicates that common and Croatian barberry are probably very closely related.

fingerprinting; Berberis croatica; Berberis vulgaris; HPLC

DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1084553