Document

Rationale and Objective: Reflux extraction is the standard sample preparation method described in the Thai Herbal Pharmacopoeia (THP) for the assay of andrographolide content in both Andrographis herbal material and capsules, and has been used since 1995. The disadvantages of this method are the consumption of large amounts of volatile and hazardous organic solvents, low extraction efficiency and a time-consuming process. The objectives of this study were to compare the extraction efficiency of ultrasonication and reflux extraction methods and to propose an alternative to the current THP method for quality control of Andrographis capsules. Methodology: Optimization of extracting solvent and sonication time were investigated. The best condition was further used for comparison of the extraction efficiency with reflux extraction. A total of 30 different lots of Andrographis capsules were tested. The analytical method as described in the THP was revalidated to ensure method performance and data integrity after the sample preparation had been changed. Results: Ultrasonication with 50% methanol for 15 minutes gave the highest andrographolide content extracted. Changes in sample preparation did not affect the analytical method performance. The contents of andrographolide extracted using ultrasonication were comparable and in most cases they were even higher than those obtained from the reflux method. Discussion and Conclusion: Ultrasonication is a more efficient, rapid and convenient method and can be used as an alternative sample preparation method to the current monographs in THP for the quality control of both Andrographis herbal material as well as medicinal products.

https://he01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/JTTAM/article/view/115106