| Summary: | (-) Huperzine A is a bioactive alkaloid from Huperzia serrata (Lycopodiaceae) used for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. High yielding (-) huperzine A species is of interest for mass propagation since it grows slowly in temperate countries. The content of (-) huperzine A from temperate countries was reported but none reported from tropical species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the content of (-) huperzine A from tropical club mosses and further identify a high yielding species. Club mosses from Lycopodiaceae family were collected from Peninsular Malaysia. The collected club mosses were dried, pulverized and extracted with methanol. A gradient reverse phase HPLC-photodiode array detector method with increasing amount of methanol in 0.01 % trifluoroacetic acid was developed. The calibration curve was linear from 5 to 100 μgmL-1 with correlation coefficient, r2, of 0.998 1. The precision for both intra- and inter-day peak area were between 0.48% to 1.24 % and 0.95% to 3.85 %, respectively. The recovery of the method was between 99.8% to 103.8 %. Though geographically segregated, (-) huperzine A content in Huperzia phlegmaria and H.carinata found in the tropics was highest and similar to species in Australasia. Both species may provide a good source of (-) huperzine A. © 2012 China Pharmaceutical University.
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