Abstract
Background: Granules are a popular way of administrating herbal decoctions. However, there are no standardised quality control methods for granules, with few studies comparing the granules to traditional herbal decoctions. This study developed a multi-analytical platform to compare the quality of granule products to herb/decoction pieces of Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Danggui). Methods: A validated ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detector (UPLC-PDA) method quantitatively compared the aqueous extracts. Hierarchical agglomerative clustering analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) clustered the samples according to three chemical compounds: ferulic acid, caffeic acid and Z-ligustilide. Ferric ion-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging capacity (DPPH) assessed the antioxidant activity of the samples. Results: HCA and PCA allocated the samples into two main groups: granule products and herb/decoction pieces. Greater differentiation between the samples was obtained with three chemical markers compared to using one marker. The herb/decoction pieces group showed comparatively higher extraction yields and significantly higher DPPH and FRAP (p < 0.05), which was positively correlated to caffeic acid and ferulic acid, respectively. Conclusions: The results confirm the need for the quality assessment of granule products using more than one chemical marker for widespread practitioner and consumer use.
Highlights
Granule formulations have become the most popular delivery form for Chinese medicinal herbs and are used as an alternative to herb and decoction pieces in herbal prescriptions worldwide includingChina, Japan, USA and Europe [1]
With the general consensus of using a multi-method approach in assessing the quality of herbal products, the present study evaluated the differences between the Danggui samples using chromatography, chemometrics and antioxidant activity
The yield results of the granule products were converted according to their concentrated ratio so that comparison to the original herbal material could be made
Summary
Granule formulations have become the most popular delivery form for Chinese medicinal herbs and are used as an alternative to herb and decoction pieces in herbal prescriptions worldwide includingChina, Japan, USA and Europe [1]. Granule formulations have become the most popular delivery form for Chinese medicinal herbs and are used as an alternative to herb and decoction pieces in herbal prescriptions worldwide including. Medicines 2020, 7, 35 which would assure the reproducibility of products This would promote clinical consistency as solvent ratios to herbs and boiling times of herbs/decoction pieces are not patient-dependent [2,3]. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) has analysed the granule formulations of popular herbs such as. There are no standardised quality control methods for granules, with few studies comparing the granules to traditional herbal decoctions. This study developed a multi-analytical platform to compare the quality of granule products to herb/decoction pieces of Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Danggui). Results: HCA and PCA allocated the samples into two main groups: granule products and herb/decoction pieces
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