Quality assessment of Fructus Psoraleae

Two newly-reported benzofuran glycosides, named psoralenoside and isopsoralenoside, along with two major coumarins, psoralen and isopsoralen, were simultaneously determined in twenty-three samples of Fructus Psoraleae collected from different growth areas in China. The quantitative method was validated, and the mean recovery rates from fortified samples (n=5) of psoralenoside, isopsoralenoside, psoralen and isopsoralen, were 96.5%, 97.1%, 100.7%, and 99.3% with variation coefficient of 3.1%, 3.6%, 2.3%, and 2.2%, respectively. An interesting biotransformation relationship between the glycosides and the coumarins was revealed on the basis of the quality analysis results. It was also suggested that psoralenoside and isopsoralenoside should be used as key quality markers for Fructus Psoraleae, together with the commonly used psoralen and isopsoralen.