Analysis of Aristolochic Acid I and II in Kampo Medicine Preparations.

Abstract

Herein reported are the detection methods of Aristolochic acid I (AA-I) and aristolochic acid II (AA-II), neph- rotoxic components of the Aristolochia plants in Aristolochiaceae, in the Kampo medicine Toki-shigyaku-ka-goshuyu- shokyo-to. The confirmation of AA-I and AA-II was possible by the detection methods using a thin layer chromatog- raphy and a high performance liquid chromatography equipped with a Photodiode array detector (LC-PDA) and an electric ionization mass spectrometry detector. With the LC-PDA, it was possible to quickly detect AA-I and AA-II in the ten kinds of Kampo medicines in which the Aristolochia fangchi root or Aristolochia mandshuriensis stem may be misused. By using AA-I and AA-II purified from a commercial mixture by a preparative HPLC as reference standards, quantitative analyses of AA-I and AA-II were successfully carried out by use of the LC-PDA.