Analysis of Scutellaria lateriflora and Its Adulterants Teucrium canadense and Teucrium chamaedrys by LC–UV/MS, TLC, and Digital Photomicroscopy

Abstract

Methods using liquid chromatography with UV detection (LC–UV), thin-layer chromatography (TLC), and digital photomicroscopy were developed to distinguish between the different species of Scutellaria lateriflora L. and its adulterants Teucrium canadense L. and T. chamaedrys L. Chemically, the 70% ethanol extract of S. lateriflora is characterized by the presence of flavonoids—predominantly baicalin, lateriflorin, dihydrobaicalin, and baicalein. The major compounds of the 70% ethanol extract of T. canadense are phenylpropanoids, with verbascoside as the most prominent, and a variable amount of teucrioside. Teucrioside is the major compound in T. chamaedrys, but it is not present in S. lateriflora. The presence of phenylpropane glycosides can therefore be used to distinguish between the S. lateriflora L. and the two Teucrium species by LC–UV and TLC. The abundant strap-shaped tri-chomes on the stem, as well as bristle-like tri-chomes on the leaf, are typically seen microscopically for T. canadense, whereas the waxy cuticle with numerous glandular scales is found in T. chamaedrys. These cell structures were used to determine the adulteration of S. lateriflora crude herb with either of the two Teucrium species.

Isolation and characterisation of selected germander diterpenoids from authenticated Teucrium chamaedrys and T. canadense by HPLC, HPLC‐MS and NMR

“…Phenylpropanoid glycosides in Teucrium species have chemical characteristics that enable them to be used as marker compounds and recently a capillary electrophoresis method has been developed for the separation of teucrioside, teucrioside-3″″-O-methyl ether, teucrioside-3″″, 4″″-O-dimethyl ether and verbascoside (Avula et al, 2003a). The structure of verbascoside had been reported earlier (Andary et al, 1982) and recently, its occurrence in T. canadense L. has been confirmed (Gafner et al, 2003). Furthermore, the quantitative determination of neo-clerodane diterpenoids from T. chamaedrys has been described (Avula et al, 2003b).…”

Skullcap and Germander: Preventing Potential Toxicity through the Application of Hyperspectral Imaging and Multivariate Image Analysis as a Novel Quality Control Method

“…American quial name is derived from the helmet-like upper lip of the hooded, tube-shaped blue-purple flower while its generic name Scutella means ʼlittle dishʼ in latin [1][2][3][4]. Skullcap as a medicine was first recorded in the Materia Medica Americana in 1787 [3].…”

“…This theory was supported by the hepatotoxicity of germander which is due to its content of diterpenes containing an oxidised furan ring, which does not occur in skullcap. Teucrioside is the major compound in T. chamaedrys, while verbascoside is the major compound in T. canadense together with varying amounts of teucrioside [2]. Regardless of the fact that the adulterants were identified, and despite efforts by the ABC and AHP among others to make the problem known and efforts by conscientious herbal product manufacturers to establish trustworthy sources of authenticated supplies, the problem has not been resolved.…”

“…After harvesting and drying, plants are often milled to a powder before being purchased by manufacturers, which renders morphological identification difficult if not impossible. Therefore, a variety of successful methods for the quality control of skullcap raw material and products have been developed including HPLC, LC-MS, HPTLC, and capillary electrophoresis [2,3,6,7]. These methods are costly, require cumbersome sample preparation, and total analysis times are long.…”

Estrogenic and Neuroprotective Properties of Scutellarin fromErigeron breviscapus: A Drug against Postmenopausal Symptoms and Alzheimer's Disease

“…Scutellarin is one of the major bioactive flavones from HE. This compound is also found in Teucridium parvifolium and Scutelaria lateriflora [16]. However, only HE is extensively used to treat cardiovascular diseases and cerebrovascular injury in China [10].…”