HPLC profiles and biomarker contents of Australian-grown Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba roots

Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba (Baihua Danshen) is a Chinese medicinal herb commonly used for treating cardiovascular disease. It has been grown in Australia, although the quality of its main medicinal part (dried root) has not been assessed. In this study, we investigated HPLC profiles and biomarker contents of Australian-grown S. miltiorrhiza f. alba roots. Patterns of HPLC profiles were established in MeOH, and aqueous extracts in terms of number of common characteristic peaks and their relative retention times. The contents of three tanshinone biomarkers (cryptotanshinone (3), tanshinone I (1), and tanshinone IIA (2)) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the roots of one-year-old plants than those of two-year-old plants. In contrast, salvianolic acid B (4) content was significantly higher in the roots of two-year-old plants than in those of one-year-old plants. The findings suggest that the biomarker contents in Australian-grown S. miltiorrhiza f. alba roots vary with the growth periods of the plants, which may be important in determining the optimal harvest time for the plant roots with targeted levels of tanshinones and salvianolic acid B (4).