Abstract: The fingerprint chromatograms were established for the quality evaluation of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. by high performance liquid chromatography. The analysis was performed on a Zorbax SB-C18 column (5 μm, 4.6 mm i.d.×250 mm) with acetonitrile-water (containing 0.4% (v/v) acetic acid ) (the volume fraction of acetonitrile from 0 to 40% within 70 min) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, and at a column temperature of 25 ℃.The detection wavelength was 254 nm. The relative standard deviations of relative retention values and relative peak areas were less than 3%. The mutual fingerprint of the extract of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. collected from Danshen Base in Tongren City of Guizhou Province was established by using the similarity calculation software of Chinese herbal fingerprint. The method is reliable and can be helpful in effectively controlling the quality of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge.

Key words: fingerprint, Salvia , water-soluble constituents, high performance liquid chromatography