The purpose of this study was to investigate the present situation of the presence of Aristolochic Acid (AA) in Fangchi or Fangji crude drugs in China after issue of a warning on AA in November 1999. All Fangchi materials were purchased from the pharmacies of Traditional Chinese Medicines in Mainland China in 2006, and a total of twelve samples were collected. All samples arrived at our laboratory frozen and were stored at ≦ 4℃ until analysed. All extracts of samples were analysed on the same day as they were prepared.
The samples were analyzed by HPLC on a Thermo Electron Corporation C12 column and detected at 254 nm with acetonitrile water and 2% (v/v) acetic acid (45:55, v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min. 34 samples of commericial fangchi were analyzed and the results showed that 6 samples contained aristolochic acid I and aristolochic acid II . The content of aristolochic acid I and aristolochic acid II in sample .
