Maonian Xu, Elín Soffía Ólafsdóttir and Þóra Ellen Þórhallsdóttir
Introduction
Herbal preparations of Arctic roots (Rhodiola rosea) have been used as an antidepressant and to reduce stress and fatique. It has an estimated
global market value was ca. 37 m USD in 2015. The current study aims to develop an analytical method for the determination of bioactive glycosides in Icelandic Arctic roots.
Material and methods
Plant root materials were milled and grinded into fine powders, which were further divided into four treatment groups, i.e. fresh, air-dried (48 hours), lyophilized (12 hours) and lyophilized (12 hours) plus sonicated (30 min, twice) groups. Three replicates (100 mg) were prepared from each group and extracted twice with 800 µL MeOH. Extracts were combined and filtered before HPLC analysis.
Results
The combination of lyophilization and sonication apparently lead to the highest yields for both rosarin&rosavin and rosin, while direct maceration from fresh samples gave the lowest quantity. The phenyl hexyl column turned out to give better separation of rosarin and rosavin than C18 columns. Glycoside contents were determined using the HPLC method.
Conclusions
An efficient HPLC method has been developed for the determination of bioactive glycosides in Icelandic Arctic roots. This method will be important in quality control of Arctic roots-based herbal preparations.
