Pharmacokinetic study of paeoniflorin in mice after oral administration ofPaeoniae radix extract

Quantification of paeoniflorin, the principal bioactive component of Paeoni ae radix, in mice plasma following oral administration of Paeoniae radix ex tract was achieved by using a simple and rapid high-performance liquid chro matographic method. The Calibration curve for paeoniflorin was linear (r(2) = 0.998) over the concentration range 10-200 ng/ml. The coefficients of va riation 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, 2 00 ng/ml, respectively. The recoveries of paeoniflorin from mice plasma wer e 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. (C) 1999 Publis hed by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.