Abstract
An effective analysis method for tablet of Corydalis tuber for alleviating pain was developed by high performance liquid chromatography in the presence of solvent mixtures of acetic acid, triethylamine, methanol, and water in gradient elution. It was applied to 12 tablet samples that were collected stochastically from pharmacies and hospitals. An image chromatographic fingerprint was developed and four marker compounds were identified in the fingerprint. A digitized chromatographic fingerprint spectrum was developed based on the seventeen common peaks that were obtained in these samples. Several quantitative parameters including relative retention time, relative standard deviation of relative retention time, relative peak area, relative standard deviation of relative peak area, difference rate, and total difference rate were applied in the digitized fingerprint of tablet of Corydalis tuberfor alleviating pain to supply an applicable and quantitative quality control method for this kind of traditional Chinese medicine preparation.