ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To establish an ICP-MS method for simultaneous determination of 19 trace elements, i.e. Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Ag, Cd, Sn, Hg, and Pb, in Andrographis Herba. METHODS: After microwave digestion treatment, samples were directly determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry based in octopole reaction system (ORS). RESULTS: The validated method indicated that the correlative coefficients (r) for all elements were above 0.9990. The limits of detections were in the range of 0.001-0.051 μg · kg-1. The reproducibility and stability were satisfactory with all RSDs below 10%. The spiked recoveries for Andrographis paniculata were between 88.64% and 102.98%. CONCLUSION: The method is simple, rapid and sensitive, which meets the requirement of trace analysis and can be used for the quality control of Andrographis Herba.