Pharmacokinetic study of paeoniflorin in mice after oral administration of Paeoniae radix extract.

Quantification of paeoniflorin, the principal bioactive component of Paeoniae radix, in mice plasma following oral administration of Paeoniae radix extract was achieved by using a simple and rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic method. The calibration curve for paeoniflorin was linear (r2 = 0.998) over the concentration range 10-200 ng/ml. The coefficients of variation of intra- and inter-day assays were 15.04, 7.31, 6.14, 6.55, 6.63% and 12.71, 6.07, 3.61, 5.51, 4.52% at concentrations of 10, 60, 100, 160, 200 ng/ml, respectively. The recoveries of paeoniflorin from mice plasma were found to be 74.49, 76.83, 80.38 and 80.56% for concentrations of 30, 80, 120 and 160 ng/ml, respectively. The plasma concentration-time curves were fitted with mean terminal half-lives (t(1/2)) of 94.16 min.