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.