Simultaneous Determination of 6 Antiallergic Components in Asarum sieboldii Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

Owing to the side effects of current drugs for treating atopic dermatitis (AD), a chronic disease in the skin, traditional herbal medicine is receiving much attention as an alternative treatment. Asarum sieboldii has traditionally been used to treat colds, fevers, headaches, coughs, neuralgia, chronic bronchitis, asthma, and allergies. In this study, 6 compounds (echinacoside, vanillic acid, kakuol, methyl eugenol, sesamin, and asarinin) in A. sieboldii were analyzed simultaneously using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the proposed analytical method was validated. In addition, the inhibitory effects of the A. sieboldii extract and the 6 analyzed compounds on the expression of chemokine were evaluated in HaCaT cells. The HPLC method showed high linearity, with a correlation coefficient of ≥0.9999. The limits of detection for the 6 compounds ranged from 0.00 to 0.02 µg/mL, and the limits of quantification ranged from 0.01 to 0.05 µg/mL. The intraday and interday precisions were 0.15%-1.90%; the accuracy was 97.36%-103.23%, and the recoveries of the 6 compounds were 97.45%-103.93%. The content of each compound in A. sieboldii, as determined using the corresponding calibration curve, was in the range of 0.380-12.062 mg/g. This optimized simultaneous quantification method will be suitable for improving the quality control of A. sieboldii. Moreover, the 6 compounds in A. sieboldii showed an inhibitory effect on the production of chemokines, which suggests that A. sieboldii has an antiallergic effect.