Quantitation of Aryltetralin Lignans in Plant Parts and among Different Populations of <i>Podophyllum </i><i>peltatum</i> by Reversed-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

A simple procedure for the extraction of aryltetralin lignans from Podophyllum peltatum with addition of an internal standard (acetylpodophyllotoxin) was developed. Plant material was separated into rhizomes and roots, petioles, and blades, and the lignan content of the ground tissue of these different parts was analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC. Podophyllotoxin and seven of its congeners were quantified. It was observed that the lignan content of the different plant parts may differ by orders of magnitude. More significantly, this degree of variation found among tissues of plant parts was not consistent from one population to another. The recovery of podophyllotoxin and acetylpodophyllotoxin in these different tissues is discussed.