Research Progress on Fingerprint Analysis and Profile-Effect Relationship of Polysaccharides

Fingerprinting technique is a comprehensive method to evaluate the chemical components in complex system, and it plays an important role in the identification and quality control of Chinese herbal medicines. Polysaccharide fingerprints including chromatographic and spectroscopic technical analysis can effectively evaluate the quality of polysaccharides by characterizing the structural characteristics of polysaccharides and exploring the spectrum-effect relationship of polysaccharide combining with activity studies. In this paper, the spectroscopic fingerprints analysis (infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy) for characterizing the structure of polysaccharides and the chromatographic fingerprints analysis for analyzing the molecular weight distribution (high performance size exclusion chromatography) and the hydrolysates (high performance liquid chromatography, high performance anion exchange chromatography, high performance thin layer chromatography and carbohydrate gel electrophoresis etc.) of polysaccharides are generalized, and the studies on profile-effect relationship of polysaccharides are summarized as well. Moreover, the prospect of the polysaccharide fingerprint is discussed, aiming to provide reference for further studies on fingerprint analysis and quality control of polysaccharides, and therefore to promote the development and utilization of polysaccharides.