ABSTRACT
The concept of fingerprinting has been increasingly used for the past few decades to determine the ancestry of plants, animals, and other microorganisms. Based on the conception of phytoequivalence, the chromatographic fingerprinting and DNA fingerprints of herbal medicines could be utilized for addressing the problem of quality control of herbal medicines. Herbal drugs, singularly and in combinations, contain a myriad of compounds in complex matrices in which no single active constituent is responsible for the overall efficacy. Obtaining a good chromatographic fingerprint representing the phytoequivalence of herbs depends on several factors, such as the extracting methods, measurement instruments, and measurement conditions. The chromatographic fingerprints of herbal medicines are a chromatographic pattern produced from the extract of some common chemical components which may be pharmacologically active or have some chemical characteristics. The high selectivity of capillary columns enables the simultaneous separation of many volatile compounds within comparatively short times.
