ABSTRACT
Objective: To establish a reversed phase high- performance liquid chromatography(RP- HPLC) method for determination of salvianolic acid B in rat plasma, and study the pharmacokinetic properties of salvianolic acid B in rats by the intragastric administration of Salvia miltiorrhiza extract and Yixingshu tablets. Methods: The SD rats were orally administered the S. miltiorrhiza extract and Yinxinshu tablets, respectively. The blood was sampled from the orbital venous plexus of rats and centrifuged to obtain plasma. Then, the content of salvianolic acid B in the rat plasma was determined after precipitation of proteins in plasma by adding methanol. The DAS2.0 software was used to analyze the pharmacokinetics parameters. Results: The established method for the determination of salvianolic acid B in rat plasma showed a good linearity in the concentration range of 0.253-10.120 μg/ml, and the limit of determination was 0.063 μg/ml. Meanwhile, the mean recovery of salvianolic acid B for the high, middle and low concentration test was 92.29%, 93.36%, and 96.50%, respectively, and the plasma concentration-time curves of salvianolic acid B for the S. miltiorrhiza extract and Yinxinshu tablets were consistent with the curves of two-compartment model. Compared with the S. miltiorrhiza extract, the Cmax and AUC0→∞ present were 2.50-fold and 2.71-fold, respectively. Conclusion: The present HPLC method was selective, accurate and sensitive for the determination of salvianolic acid B in rat plasma. The present result also indicated that the other medicinal herbs except S. miltiorrhiza in the Yixinshu tables could significantly accelerate the absorption of salvianolic acid B, so as to significantly improve the bioavailability of salvianolic acid B in the Yixinshu tables.