Abstract: The objective of this study was to establish a method for analyzing the contents of macamides in Lepidium meyenii by HPLC. The chromatographic conditions were as follows: A Sepax Sapphire C₁₈ (250 mm × 4.6 mm,5 μm) column was used with the mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile (A) and 0.05% phosphoric acid (B),from 90% to 95% (A) in 15 min and maintained at 95% (A) in 15-50 min; detection wavelength was 208 nm; flow rate: 1.0 mL/min; column oven temperature was 30 ℃. The linear ranges of macamide 1,macamide 2 and macamide 3 were 0.88-132 μg/mL,0.85-128 μg/mL and 0.96-144 μg/mL,respectively. The average recoveries of macamide 1 and macamide 2 were 99.21% (RSD=1.64%) and 98.59% (RSD=1.75%),respectively. The results showed that there were great differences in the contents of macamides in L. meyenii from different regions. The developed HPLC method was reliable,accurate and reproducible for the quality evaluation of Maca from different origins.

Key words: Lepidium meyenii, different regions, macamides, HPLC