Comparative pharmacokinetics of berberine and salvianolic acid B in single herb and traditional herbal medicine

Traditional herbal medicines are consisted with several herbs and they have been interested in the field of new drug development due to high effectiveness and low toxicity. Owing to the chemical complexity, the specific and advanced analytical method will be necessary for the quality control and pharmacokinetic study of the herbal medicines. Wen-Pi-Tang-Hab-Wu-Ling-San (WHW), one of modified traditional herbal medicine, was developed and used for inhibition of the renal fibrosis in kidney cells. Coptidis Rhizoma and Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix are the key ingredients of WHW. Berberine (BB) and salvianolic acid B (SB) are the representative components of both herbs, respectively. We compared the pharmacokinetic parameters of two representative components in single herb and WHW.

For pharmacokinetic study of BB and SB, the relevant amount of Coptidis Rhizoma, Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix and WHW was administered orally to rats. Blood samples were collected and analyzed by HPLC. HPLC analysis was performed by Shimadzu LC-10AD system with a diode array detector at 250nm using C18 column. Gradient program for mobile phases of 5% methanol containing 1% acetic acid and 95% methanol was used for the separation.

In the validation of the method, the accuracy of intra- and inter-day was 99.6% ˜ 104.0% and 98% ˜ 102.4% for BB, and 101.1% ˜ 103.0% and 93.0% ˜ 105.8% for SB, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precisions of BB were below 2.93% and 4.98%, and those of SB were below 4.17% and 6.54%, respectively. For the animals received WHW in pharmacokinetic study, AUC was increased, while Tmax and T1/2 was decreased comparing with the animals received pure BB. However, for the WHW group, Cmax, Tmax, AUC and T1/2 were increased comparing with the animals received pure SB.