Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis

Volume 114, 10 October 2015, Pages 272–279

The phytochemical investigation of Agrimonia eupatoria L. and Agrimonia procera Wallr. as valid sources of Agrimoniae herba—The pharmacopoeial plant material

• Sebastian Granica^{a, ,} ,
• Holger Kluge^b,
• Gert Horn^c,
• Adam Matkowski^d,
• Anna K. Kiss^a

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doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2015.05.027

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Highlights

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The in-depth phytochemical comparison of A. eupatoria and A. procera is presented.

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The variability of chemical composition of both plant materials is presented.

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The possibility of introduction of A. procera as source for pharmacopoeial herb.

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The problem of lack of proper standardization of agrimony herb is highlighted.

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Abstract

The agrimony herb is a traditional plant drug, which is commonly used as a mildly astringent agent. According to European Pharmacopoeia, the only source of this plant drug is Agrimonia eupatoria. By contrast the German Commission E pharmacopoeial monograph used to allow Agrimonia procera to be used as a second valid source of Agrimoniae herba. Several studies have been conducted on the phytochemical composition of common agrimony. The data on the phytochemistry of A. procera are scarce. The aim of the present study was an in-depth phytochemical comparison of A. eupatoria and A. procera in the context of the pharmacopoeial monograph of A. herba.

The comparison of two agrimony species showed that there are no significant qualitative differences. The quantitative HPLC analysis revealed that fragrant agrimony is a much better source of agrimoniin than common agrimony. This difference could not be detected using the pharmacopoeial method of quantification for the total tannin content.

The present study has shown for the first time the possible use of apigenin-C-glycosides (vitexin and isovitexin) as chemotaxonomic markers for distinguishing both agrimony species. The potential chemical markers such as apigenin-7-O-glucoside and high agrimoniin content were also suggested for fragrant agrimony. Based on the data obtained, A. procera should be considered as a valid source of pharmacopoeial plant material.

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Graphical abstract

Keywords

• Agrimoniae herba;
• Agrimony;
• Agrimoniin;
• Agrimonia procera;
• Agrimonia eupatoria;
• HPLC–MS

Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 225720942; fax: +48 225720942.

Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.