Comparative Pharmacokinetics of Alkaloids and Triterpenes in Rats after Oral Administration of Phellodendron Chinensis Cortex and Its Processed Products

Phellodendron Chinensis Cortex, also called Chuan Huang Bo (CHB), is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine clinics. Its broad scope of application is dependent on processing it with honey, salt-water, or rice-wine. To elucidate the significance of processing, a UPLC-QqQ-MS method was developed in this study to determine the content of berberine, phellodendrine, magnoflorine, limonin, and obacunone in rat plasma after the oral administration of aqueous extracts of Phellodendron Chinensis Cortex and its processed products. Results show that processing CHB alters the bioavailability, absorption, and clearance rate of berberine, phellodendrine, magnoflorine, limonin, and obacunone. There are differences in the in vivo pharmacokinetic behavior of CHB and its processed products of berberine, phellodendrine, magnoflorine, limonin, and obacunone. This paper contributes a pharmacokinetics perspective to the current understanding of the significance of processing CHB with honey, salt-water, and rice-wine.

黄檗（Phellodendron Chinensis Cortex）又名川黄柏（Chuan Huang Bo，CHB），在中医临床中应用广泛。其临床应用范围之广，有赖于蜂蜜、盐水或米酒炮制工艺。为阐明炮制工艺的意义，本研究建立了超高效液相色谱-三重四极杆串联质谱（UPLC-QqQ-MS）分析方法，用于测定大鼠口服黄檗及其炮制品水提物后，血浆中小檗碱（berberine）、黄柏碱（phellodendrine）、木兰碱（magnoflorine）、柠檬苦素（limonin）及黄柏酮（obacunone）的含量。结果显示，炮制川黄柏可改变上述五种成分的生物利用度、吸收特性与清除速率。川黄柏与其炮制品在这五种成分的体内药代动力学行为上存在显著差异。本研究从药代动力学视角，为当前理解蜂蜜、盐水及米酒炮制川黄柏的药用价值提供了新的理论依据。