Comparison of micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography on fingerprint of Cnidium monnieri

In our studies, micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEKC) was employed in fingerprint analysis of Cnidium monnieri for the first time. Average chromatography of 10 batches Cnidium monnieri from Jiangsu province, China, which have long been considered as the original and genuine herbal medicine, was first established as the characteristic fingerprint. Within 25 min the major effective components were separated by 18 mM borate, 12 mM phosphate and 50 mM SDS (pH 9.2) containing 20% methanol. The relative standard deviations of migration times and peak areas were less than 5%. As a new approach of fingerprint, MKCE was compared to the conventional approach-HPLC in our experiments. The fingerprint developed by HPLC comprised 8 peaks that were collected within 40 min. Relative standard deviation (RSD) values of retention times of corresponding peaks in HPLC analysis were very small (maximum 3% and average 0.9%). In conclusion, each two methods had its advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, besides HPLC, MEKC as a feasible method, could be used in the development of fingerprint of Cnidium monnieri.