Comparative pharmacokinetics of swertiamarin in rats after oral administration of swertiamarin alone, Qing Ye Dan tablets and co-administration of swertiamarin and oleanolic acid

Qing Ye Dan is a well-known herbal drug that is widely used to treat viral hepatitis in the Yi and Hani minority regions in the Yunnan province of China.An LC-MS/MS method was developed to determine the levels of swertiamarin in rat plasma. Swertiamarin and naringin (internal standard, IS) were extracted from rat plasma using solid-phase extraction (SPE) to purify the samples. The pharmacokinetics of the following different administration methods of swertiamarin in rats were studied: oral administration of swertiamarin alone, a Qing Ye Dan tablet (QYDT) and co-administration of swertiamarin and oleanolic acid, with each method delivering approximately 20mg/kg of swertiamarin. Non-compartmental pharmacokinetic profiles were constructed by using the software DAS (version 2.1.1), and the pharmacokinetic parameters were compared using an unpaired Student's t-test.The results showed that the pharmacokinetic parameters Cmax, AUC0-∞, Vz/F and CLz/F were significantly different (P<0.05) among the three types of swertiamarin administration.The data indicate that oleanolic acid and the other ingredients present in QYDT could affect the pharmacokinetic behaviour of swertiamarin in rats.