ABSTRACT
Aims Tocomparethepharmacokineticsof ephedra alkaloids,cinnamic acid and cinnamic alcohol in Ephedrae, Cinnamomi and Ephedrae-Cinnamomi herb couple through UPLC-MS/MS in rats respective-ly,and to investigate the effect of combination on phys-iologicaldisposition.Methods Plasmasampleswere collected at different times after oral administration of Ephedrae,Cinnamomi and Ephedrae-Cinnamomi herb couple extracts.The concentrations of ephedra alka-loids,cinnamic acid and cinnamic alcohol in plasma samples were determined by UPLC-MS/MS.DAS 3. 0 was used to calculate pharmacokinetic parameters.The differences of samples in two groups were conducted with univariate statistical analysis using SPSS 13. 0. Results ComparedwithEphedraegroup,theCmaxof norephedrine hydrochloride, norpseudoephedrine hydrochloride,ephedrine hydrochloride,pseudoephed-rine hydrochloride,and methylephedrine hydrochloride in Ephedrae-Cinnamomi herb couple group were signif-icantly greater (P<0. 05 );the AUC0-t of norpseudo-ephedrine hydrochloride was significantly greater (P<0. 05 );the MRT0-t of norephedrine hydrochloride, phedrine hydrochloride, pseudoephedrine hydrochlo-ride,and methylephedrine hydrochloride were signifi-cantly less (P <0. 05 );the T1/2z of norephedrine hydrochloride,phedrine hydrochloride,and methyl-ephedrine hydrochloride were significantly less (P <0. 05 ).The AUC0-t and MRT0-t of cinnamic acid and cinnamic alcohol were significantly greater than those inCinnamomigroup(P<0.05).Conclusion The combination of Ephedrae and Cinnamomi improves the absorption concentration of five ephedra alkaloids, Slows down the elimination of norephedrine hydrochlo-ride,phedrine hydrochloride,pseudoephedrine hydro-chloride,and methylephedrine hydrochloride,and in-creases the bioavailability of cinnamic acid and cin-namic alcohol.