Profiles of Phenolic Acids and Triterpene Glycosides in Commercial and Cultivated Black Cohosh.

The medicinal plant Actaea racemosa is a perennial, whose rhizome (black cohosh rhizome) is usually wild harvested on a multiton scale to meet market requirements. Since this North American species is increasingly endangered, cultivation is needed. Even though studies prove that cultivation is possible, it has not been widely established. This may be due to a different quality of cultivated material, which does not comply with current pharmacopoeial requirements. This study compares contents and chromatographic fingerprints of phenolic acids and triterpene glycosides in different types of black cohosh rhizomes. Commercial batches from wild harvests were compared to individual plants from the wild and from cultivation. Phenolic acids' contents and profiles were generally comparable between wild harvesting and cultivation. On the contrary, the total triterpene glycoside content was significantly lower in cultivation (p ≤ 0.001). In individual plants, different profiles of triterpene glycosides occurred. Possibly, specimen or chemotype selection for cultivation would cause a shift of the triterpene glycoside profile of cultivation batches away from the common pattern found in batches from wild harvesting. Potentially, such differences have an impact on the efficacy of black cohosh herbal products, if cultivated plant material is used for manufacturing.

NIR Spectroscopy of Actaea racemosa L. rhizome - En Route to Fast and Low-Cost Quality Assessment.

Rhizomes of Actaea racemosa L. (formerly Cimicifuga racemosa) gained increasing interest as a plant-derived drug due to its hormone-like activity and the absence of estrogenic activity. According to the Current Good Manufacturing Practices guidelines and pharmacopeial standards, quality assessment of herbal starting materials includes tests on identity and substitution, as well as quantification of secondary metabolites, usually by HPTLC and LC methods. To reduce the laboratory effort, we investigated near-infrared spectroscopy for rapid species authentication and quantification of metabolites of interest.Near-infrared spectroscopy analysis is carried out directly on the milled raw plant material. Spectra were correlated with reference data of polyphenols and triterpene glycosides determined by LC/diode array detection and LC/evaporative light scattering detection, respectively. Quantification models were built and validated by cross-validation procedures. Clone plants, derived by vegetative propagation, and plants of a collection from different geographical origins cultivated in Berlin were analysed together with mixed batches from wild harvests purchased at wholesalers.Generally, good to excellent correlations were found for the overall content of polyphenols with coefficients of determination of R2 > 0.93. For individual polyphenols such as fukinolic acid, only models containing clone plants succeeded (R2 > 0.92). For the total content of triterpene glycosides, results were generally worse in comparison to polyphenols and were observed only for the mixed batches (R2 = 0.93).Next to quantitative analysis, near-infrared spectroscopy was proven as a rapid alternative to other, more laborious methods for species authentication. Near-infrared spectroscopy was able to distinguish different Actaea spp. such as the North American Actaea cordifolia and the Asian Actaea cimicifuga, Actaea dahurica, Actaea heracleifolia, and Actaea simplex.

Economical, Plain, and Rapid Authentication of Actaea racemosa L. (syn. Cimicifuga racemosa, Black Cohosh) Herbal Raw Material by Resilient RP-PDA-HPLC and Chemometric Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: The medicinal plant Actaea racemosa L. (Ranunculaceae, aka black cohosh) is widely used to treat climacteric complaints as an alternative to hormone substitution. Recent trials prove efficacy and safety of the approved herbal medicinal products from extracts of pharmaceutical quality. This led to worldwide increasing sales. A higher demand for the plant material results in problems with economically motivated adulteration. Thus, reliable tools for herbal drug authentication are necessary. OBJECTIVE: To develop an economical, plain, and rapid method to distinguish between closely related American and Asian Actaea species, using securely established and resilient analytical methods coupled to a chemometric evaluation of the resulting data. METHODOLOGY: We developed and validated a RP-PDA-HPLC method including an extraction by ultra-sonication to determine the genuine contents of partly hydrolysis-sensitive polyphenols in Actaea racemosa roots and rhizomes, and applied it to a large number of 203 Actaea samples consisting of seven species. RESULTS: We were able to generate reliable data with regards to the polyphenolic esters in the samples. The evaluation of this data by principle component analysis (PCA) made a discrimination between Asian Actaea species (sheng ma), one American Actaea species (Appalachian bugbane), and A. racemosa possible. CONCLUSION: The developed RP-PDA-HPLC method coupled to PCA is an excellent tool for authentication of the Actaea racemosa herbal drug, and can be a powerful addition to the TLC methods used in the dedicated pharmacopoeias, and is a promising alternative to expensive and lots of expertise requiring methods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.