An in vitro study of anti-inflammatory activity of standardised Andrographis paniculata extracts and pure andrographolide

Abstract

BackgroundThe anti-inflammatory activity of Andrographis paniculata (Acanthaceae), a traditional medicine widely used in Asia, is commonly attributed to andrographolide, its main secondary metabolite. Commercial A. paniculata extracts are standardised to andrographolide content. We undertook the present study to investigate 1) how selective enrichment of andrographolide in commercial A. paniculata extracts affects the variability of non-standardised phytochemical components and 2) if variability in the non-standardised components of the extract affects the pharmacological activity of andrographolide itself.MethodsWe characterized 12 commercial, standardised (≥30% andrographolide) batches of A. paniculata extracts from India by HPLC profiling. We determined the antioxidant capacity of the extracts using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging, oxygen radical antioxidant capacity (ORAC) and a Folin-Ciocalteu (FC) antioxidant assays. Their anti-inflammatory activity was assessed by assaying their inhibitory effect on the release of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in the human monocytic cell line THP-1.ResultsThe andrographolide content in the samples was close to the claimed value (32.2 ± 2.1%, range 27.5 to 35.9%). Twenty-one non-standardised constituents exhibited more than 2-fold variation in HPLC peak intensities in the tested batches. The chlorogenic acid content of the batches varied more than 30-fold. The DPPH free radical scavenging activity varied ~3-fold, the ORAC and FC antioxidant capacity varied ~1.5 fold among batches. In contrast, the TNF-α inhibitory activity of the extracts exhibited little variation and comparison with pure andrographolide indicated that it was mostly due to their andrographolide content.ConclusionsStandardised A. paniculata extracts contained the claimed amount of andrographolide but exhibited considerable phytochemical background variation. DPPH radical scavenging activity of the extracts was mostly due to the flavonoid/phenlycarboxylic acid compounds in the extracts. The inhibitory effect of andrographolide on the release of TNF-α was little affected by the quantitative variation of the non-standardised constituents.

The anti-inflammatory effect of Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees on pelvic inflammatory disease in rats through down-regulation of the NF-κB pathway

“…Besides, APN could significantly lower the levels of these cytokines and chemokines in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting a potent anti-inflammatory effect of APN for PID. As andrographolide is the major bioactive substance and has a critical effect on inhibiting the release of an important proinflammatory factor TNF-α in APN [43], it may also contribute importantly to suppressing the inflammatory response in this study.…”

Beneficial effects of anAndrographis paniculataextract and andrographolide on cognitive functions in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

“…They are also the very first ones revealing cognitive function improving potentials of andrographolide and of the A. paniculata extract studied. Although this medicinally used extract (KalmCold Õ , or AP) is highly enriched in andrographolide (32.2%, w/w), apart from such labdane terpenes this and other andrographolide enriched extracts of the plant also contain numerous other bioactive phytochemical with andrographolide like anti-inflammatory and other bioactivities (Chandrasekaran et al 2011;Low et al 2015). However, the observed efficacies of AP and pure andrographolide in counteracting cognitive deficits and all biochemical abnormalities in the brain quantified in this study were always qualitatively as well as quantitatively almost equal.…”

Effect of Andrographolide on Foam Cell Formation at the Initiation Stage of Atherosclerosis

“…Andrographis paniculata (Acanthaceae) is known as sambiloto (Indonesia), kalmegh (India) and chuanxinlian (China), which is used as an herbal medicine in Asia [7]. Based on previous studies andrographolide has been shown to have pharmacological effects as anti-inflammatory through its influence on cytokines that play a role in the inflammatory process [7][8][9][10][11]. With the discovery of anti-inflammatory role of andrographolide, its potential effect in inflammation has gradually attracted much attention, especially in atherosclerosis.…”