Rapid and comprehensive quality evaluation of Huang-qin from different origins by FT-IR and NIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics.

Introduction: Quality evaluation of Huang-qin is significant to ensure its clinical efficacy.

Objective: This study aims to establish an accurate, rapid and comprehensive Huang-qin quality evaluation method to overcome the time-consuming and laborious shortcomings of traditional herbal medicine quality assessment methods.

Methods: The contents of baicalin, baicalein and scutellarin in Huang-qin from five different origins were analyzed by FT-IR and NIR spectra combined with multivariate data technology. The quality of Huang-qin from different origins was evaluated by TOPSIS and consistency analysis based on the content of three active ingredients. The correlation between ecological factors and the accumulation of active ingredients was explored.

Results: Satisfactory prediction results of PLS models were obtained. Relatively, the model based on FT-IR combined with the PLS regression method has higher R² and smaller RMSE than the NIR combined with the PLS method. TOPSIS and consistency analysis results showed that the quality of Huang-qin from different geographical origins was significantly different. The results showed that the quality of Huang-qin produced in Shanxi Province was the best among the five origins studied. The results also found that the quality of Huang-qin in different growing areas of the same origin was not completely consistent. The correlation study showed that altitude, sunshine duration and rainfall were the main factors that caused the quality difference of medicinal materials in different geographical origins.

Conclusion: This study provides a reference for the rapid quantitative analysis of the active components of herbal medicine and the quality evaluation of them.