ABSTRACT
Vinpocetine (VP) has been widely used to treat cerebrovascular disorders and nerve injury. Borneol (BN), as an important traditional Chinese medicine, is commonly used to promote the absorption and distribution of central nervous system drugs. In this work, a LC-MS/MS method was developed to determine the level of VP in rat plasma and tissues, and to evaluate the effect of co-administration of BN with VP by oral gavage on the absorption and tissue distribution of VP in rats. Rats were divided into VP (10 mg·kg-1), VP (10 mg·kg-1) + BN (75 mg·kg-1) and VP (10 mg·kg-1) + BN (150 mg·kg-1) groups for pharmacokinetic study, and divided into VP (10 mg·kg-1) and VP (10 mg·kg-1) + BN (150 mg·kg-1) groups for tissue distribution study. The animal experiment was approved by Ethics Committee of Hubei University, and complied with the guideline for caring and using of laboratory animals. Compared to VP group, the AUC0-∞, MRT0-∞ and t1/2z of VP + BN (150 mg·kg-1) group increased significantly, by 1.98-, 1.22- and 1.42-fold respectively, and the exposure in plasma, liver, kidney and brain increased by 2-, 1.5-, 1.5- and 1.3-fold respectively. The pharmacokinetic results suggested that co-administration of BN with VP is beneficial for overcoming the undesirable pharmacokinetic characteristics of VP, such as short residence time, low oral bioavailability and brain exposure in clinical usage.