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

<i>Phellodendr</i><i>on</i><i> Chinensis</i> Cortex, also called <i>Chuan Huang Bo</i> (CHB),<i> </i>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 <i>Phellodendr</i><i>on</i><i> Chinensis </i>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 <i>in vivo</i> 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.