Objective: To study the HPLC fingerprint of toad skin and provide a reliable method for quality control and identification.
Methods: It used HPLC for detection and computer aided similarity evaluation system for processing and analysing HPLC fingerprint.
Results: The common pattern of HPLC fingerprint of toad skin was astablished, 29 peaks were identified as the characteristic fingerprints, in which 9 peaks corresponded to 9 bufogenins. (2) Each samples' similarity of relative retention time was all above 0.99, but the similarity of relative peak areas was low.
Conclusion: (1) The method is accurate and with good reproducibility. The fingerprints can be used for the identification and quality control of toad skin. (2) The toad skin from different regions are stable in composition, but the contents of the components are different.