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.

川黄柏（Phellodendron Chinensis Cortex，简称CHB）在中医临床中应用广泛，其广泛的临床应用有赖于蜜炙、盐炙及酒炙等炮制处理方式。为阐明炮制工艺的核心意义，本研究建立了超高效液相色谱-三重四极杆质谱（UPLC-QqQ-MS）分析方法，用于测定大鼠灌服川黄柏生品及其炮制品水提物后，血浆中小檗碱、黄柏碱、木兰碱、柠檬苦素及臭椿内酯的含量。结果表明，对川黄柏进行炮制可改变其所含小檗碱、黄柏碱、木兰碱、柠檬苦素、臭椿内酯的生物利用度、吸收速率及清除率。川黄柏生品及其炮制品中上述五种成分的体内药代动力学行为存在显著差异。本研究从药代动力学视角，为深化学界对川黄柏蜜炙、盐炙及酒炙炮制意义的认知提供了新的支撑。