Rapid Simultaneous Determination of Andrographolides in Andrographis paniculata by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

The potential of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for the quality control of traditional Chinese medicine has been evaluated. Seven quantitative parameters, andrographolide, deoxyandrographolide, dehydroandrographolide, neoandrographolide, moisture, ash content, and alcohol-soluble extract of Andrographis paniculata, were evaluated by NIRS. The reference values of andrographolides were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography, and the others were obtained using the standard methods of the 2015 Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The predicted values were determined by a quantitative model using NIRS based on partial least square regression. Different spectral preprocessing methods, spectral ranges, and optimum number of factors were selected to optimize the models. All models were estimated by the combination of various parameters, including the correlation coefficient of calibration for andrographolide, deoxyandrographolide, dehydroandrographolide, neoandrographolide, moisture, ash content, alcohol-soluble extract (values of 0.980, 0.984, 0.989, 0.983, 0.987, 0.988, 0.979, respectively), root mean square error of calibration (values of 0.156, 0.038, 0.050, 0.029, 0.604, 0.431, 0.135, respectively), root mean square error of prediction (values of 0.169, 0.041, 0.050, 0.033, 0.280, 0.493, 0.140, respectively), root mean square error of cross-validation (values of 0.626, 0.114, 0.158, 0.046, 1.145, 0.774, 0.508, respectively), and ratio of standard deviation to standard error of prediction (values of 4.583, 4.690, 4.796, 4.899, 4.899, 4.690, 5.099, respectively). The results show that the calibration models by NIRS are reliable and can be applied for the quantification for seven parameters from A. paniculata for quality control in traditional Chinese medicine production and processing.