[Affect regularity of medicinal species and heating time on flavonoids contents in Epimedium cut crude drug].

OBJECTIVE: To study the affect regularity of medicinal species and heating time on flavonoids contents in Epimedium cut crude drug. METHODS: Setting processing temperature at 170 degrees C, 39 batches Epimedium cut crude drug of different species were heated for 0, 5, 10 minutes. The contents of epimedin A, B, C, icariin, Baohuoside I in different species of Epimedium were determined by HPLC. The variance analysis was used to study the effect of medicinal species and heating time on the contents change of five major flavonoids. RESULTS: The contents of Epimedin A, B, C were significantly impacted by medicinal species (P < 0.01), and Baohuoside I was also impacted (P < 0. 05). The contents of Epimedin A, B, icariin and Baohuoside I were significantly impacted by heating time (P < 0.01). But the flavonoids contents in Epimedium were not impacted by the interaction effect of heating time and species (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The medicinal species and heat processed time are two important influence factors on the flavonoids contents in Epimedium. The contents of Epimedin A, C are abundant in Epimedium pubescens, and the contents of Epimedin B, Baohuoside I are higher in Epimedium brevicornu. After heating, the contents of Epimedin A, B, C are decreased, and icariin, Baohuoside I are increased. This study provides scientific evidences for variety certification, optimizing processing technology, exploring processing mechanism and clinical rational administration.