RESUMO
Ganoderma--"Lingzhi" in Chinese--is one of the superior Chinese tonic materia medicas in China, Japan, and Korea. Two species, Ganoderma lucidum (Red Lingzhi) and G. sinense (Purple Lingzhi), have been included in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia since its 2000 Edition. However, some other species of Ganoderma are also available in the market. For example, there are five species divided by color called "Penta-colors Lingzhi" that have been advocated as being the most invigorating among the Lingzhi species; but there is no scientific evidence for such a claim. Morphological identification can serve as an effective practice for differentiating the various species, but the inherent quality has to be delineated by chemical analysis. Among the diverse constituents in Lingzhi, triterpenoids are commonly recognized as the major active ingredients. An automatic triple development HPTLC fingerprint analysis was carried out for detecting the distribution consistency of the triterpenoic acids in various Lingzhi samples. The chromatographic conditions were optimized as follows: stationary phase, precoated HPTLC silica gel 60 plate; mobile phase, toluene-ethyl acetate-methanol-formic acid (15 + 15 + 1 + 0.1); and triple-development using automatic multiple development equipment. The chromatograms showed good resolution, and the color images provided more specific HPTLC fingerprints than have been previously published. It was observed that the abundance of triterpenoic acids and consistent fingerprint pattern in Red Lingzhi (fruiting body of G. lucidum) outweighs the other species of Lingzhi.