Perspective of chemical fingerprinting of Chinese herbs

The holistic system of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an integrity of the ingredients contained in the Chinese herbal medicines, which creates a challenge in establishing quality control standards for raw materials and the standardization of finished herbal drugs because no single component is contributing to the total efficacy. Chromatographic fingerprinting analysis represents a rational approach for the quality assessment of TCM. It utilizes chromatographic techniques, which include CE, GC, HPLC, HPTLC, etc., to construct specific patterns for recognition of multiple compounds in TCMs. Thus, chromatographic fingerprinting analysis of herbal medicines represents a comprehensive qualitative approach for the purpose of species authentication, evaluation of quality, and ensuring the consistency and stability of herbal drugs and their related products. The pragmatic comprehensive chromatographic fingerprinting analysis can disclose the detectable ingredients composition and concentration distribution under quantifiable operational conditions and therefore provide real-time quality information. It may leave a "gray" entity at the primary stage. However, consecutive study will deepen the knowledge and reduce its "gray scale", increase the transparency gradually, thereby strengthening its quality assessment potency.