title: Application of microscopy technique and high-performance liquid chromatography for quality assessment of the flower bud of Tussilago farfara L. (Kuandonghua).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality control is one of the bottleneck problems limiting the application and development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In recent years, microscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques have been frequently applied in the quality control of TCM. However, studies combining conventional microscopy and HPLC techniques for the quality control of the flower bud of Tussilago farfara L. (Kuandonghua) have not been reported.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was undertaken to evaluate the quality of the flower bud of T. farfara L. and to establish the relationships between the quantity of pollen grains and four main bioactive constituents: tussilagone, chlorogenic acid, rutin and isoquercitrin.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, microscopic examination was used to quantify microscopic characteristics of the flower bud of T. farfara L., and the chemical components were determined by HPLC. The data were analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences statistics software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of the analysis showed that tussilagone, chlorogenic acid, rutin and isoquercitrin were significantly correlated with the quantity of pollen grains in the flower bud of T. farfara L. There is a positive correlation between them. From these results, it can be deduced that the flower bud of T. farfara L. with a greater quantity of pollen grains should be of better quality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study showed that the established method can be helpful for evaluating the quality of the flower bud of T. farfara L. based on microscopic characteristic constants and chemical quantitation.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dalian, China.
authors.forename: Da
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dalian, China ; School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dalian, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dalian, China.
authors.forename: Tingguo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kang
keywords: Chemical components; Tussilago farfara L; pollen grains; quantitative analysis; tussilagone