High-performance liquid chromatographic assay for the active saponins from Panax notoginseng in rat tissues

A reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method was used to determine the ginsenosides Rg(1), Rb-1 and Rd of Panax notoginseng in rat tissues (kidney, liver, heart, spleen and lung) after the administration of total saponins of P. notoginseng. The tissue samples were treated with solid-phase extraction prior to HPLC. The calibration curves for the three saponins were linear in the given concentration ranges. The intra-day and inter-day assay coefficients in tissues were between 76 and 120% respectively. The recoveries of all the tissues were higher than 70%. This method was applied to evaluate the distribution of the three major saponins of P. notoginseng in rat tissues. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.