RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To establish an assay method for simultaneous determination of peimine, peiminine, peimissine and hupehenine and to make a comparative analysis of the content of four alkaloids in Fritillaria hupehensis and Fritillaria ebeiensis var. purpurea for the first time. METHODS: A Unitary C18 column(250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 µm) was chosen with acetonitrile-water (containing 0.05% diethylamine) as mobile phase in a gradient program. The column temperature was 35 degrees C and the flow-rate was 1.0 mL/min. RESULTS: There was high content of peiminine and the content of peimissine was inferior to peiminine in Fritillaria hupehensis. Relatively speaking, peimine and hupehenine were much lower than the other two ingredients. Fritillaria ebeiensis var. purpurea also contained high levels of peiminine, the minimum content of peimine and equivalent content of peimissine comparing with Fritillaria hupehensis. In addition, it didn't contain hupehenine in Fritillaria ebeiensis var. purpurea. CONCLUSION: This method is simple and fast, and it has good separation, reproducibility and reliable results. Also, it can be used as basis for the quality evaluation of Fritillaria hupehensis and Fritillaria ebeiensis var. purpurea.