A comparative study on commercial, botanical gardens and wild samples of the roots of Platycodon grandiflorum by HPLC analysis

Thirteen commercial samples of Platycodi radix of Platycodon grandiflorum, were collected from China (5 kinds), Korea (5 kinds), and Japan (3 kinds) along with 8 kinds of botanically cultivated Platycodi radix, 3 kinds of wild Platycodi radix collected from different places in Japan. HPLC analysis showed that the commercial botanical and wild samples of P. radix all contained platycodins and a total of twelve peaks were identified by co-HPLC anlaysis with authentic samples isolated earlier from this laboratory. The peak purity and identify were checked with a PDA. The contents of the major saponins, platycodins A, C, D were determined and the peak-area ratios of platycodins A, C, D were shown to be correlated with their sources of origin. The commercial samples from China and Korea each gave a distinct HPLC pattern with peak-area ratio of platycodins A, C, D at 1:2:3 and 2:4:1, respectively. HPLC analysis showed that those on the Japanese market were either imported from China or Korea based upon their HPLC patterns while the Japanese botanical garden or wild type samples gave a higher total saponin content with the peak-area ratio of platycodins A, C, D at 1:2:1.