A comparative study on the pharmacokinetics of a traditional Chinese herbal preparation with the single herb extracts in rats by LC-MS/MS method.

The Er-Mu preparation (EMP) is a well-known traditional Chinese prescription that has been clinically employed for the treatment of asthma and bronchial inflammation for hundreds of years. Neomangiferin, mangiferin, peimine, peiminine, timosaponin BII and timosaponin AIII are the major active ingredients of EMP for their anti-inflammatory or anti-asthmatic effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics of the target compounds from the recipe of EMP and the single herb extracts of Anemarrhenae asphodeloides Bge. (ARR) and Fritillariae cirrhosae D.Don (FCB), and the influence of compatibility on the pharmacokinetics of the main active ingredients. The rats were randomly assigned to three groups and orally administered with the recipe of EMP and the single herb extracts of ARR and FCB, respectively. The concentrations of the target compounds in rat plasma were determined by an optimal liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) with a multi-switching monitoring mode coupled with simple protein precipitation method, and the main pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated. Significant differences (p<0.05) were found in the pharmacokinetic parameters of neomangiferin, mangiferin, peimine and peiminine between the single ARR or FCB extract and the combination treatment (p<0.05). The developed HPLC-ESI-MS method by switching positive and negative ESI sources in a single run was successfully applied to study the pharmacokinetics of six compounds in SD rat, which was powerful in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, time savings and solvent consumption in the quantitative analysis of complex herbal medicines. It was surmised that formula compatibility could significantly influence the pharmacokinetics of EMP and our study has preliminarily elucidated the priority in the compatible administration of EMP based on pharmacokinetic studies.