Houttuynia cordata Thunb (Yu Xing Cao) 鱼腥草(Saururaceae) commonly known as Chinese lizard tail. This medicinal use of this herb is well known in Asia, with references from the 1st century. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) H. cordata has many applications including its use in the treatment of cancer, inflammation and fever. The plant is harvested during the growing season and is administered as the Traditional Medicinal decoction (TM). H. cordata contains flavonoids, essential oil, alkaloids and fatty acids [1]. Many studies document the bioactivity of organic extracts of H. cordata, as opposed to the TM decoction. Studies using decoctions frequently fail to present chemical fingerprints [2]. Many factors influence the qualitative and quantitative metabolomic profile of a TM, hence different extracts potentially represent different medicines [3]. In this study we present the results on the chemical fingerprinting of thirteen different samples of H. cordata. Eleven of these samples were plant material and two samples in the study are in the form of modernised granules. Microscopic features were determined and compared with the monograph of H. cordata thumb from the Hong-Kong Pharmacopeia. All plant samples were extracted as decoctions and aqueous extracts of the modernised granules were prepared. All samples were lyophilised. Chemical profiles of the extracts were generated and analyzed by HPLC, LC-MS and NMR (Figure 1). Chromatograms and spectra show distinct variation between some samples. In our ongoing studies the bio-activity of decoctions will be evaluated in THP-1 and Caco-2 cells, to establish the activity and to correlate these activities with the metabolomic fingerprints using multivariate analysis.
[1] Fu J et al. Chinese Medicine 2013; 4, 101-123
[2] Lee J et al. J Ethnopharmacol 2008; 17(1):34-40.
[3] Sheridan H et al. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2012; 140, 482-491