Study on Integrated Pharmacokinetics of Gardenia Acid and Geniposide: Time-Antioxidant Efficacy after Oral Administration of Huanglian–Zhizi Couplet Medicine from Huang–Lian–Jie–Du–Tang in MCAO Rats

Huanglian–Zhizi couplet medicine comes from classical prescription Huang–Lian–Jie–Du–Tang (HLJDT), which has been proven by previous researches to be an effective compound for cerebral ischemia. This paper explores the integrated pharmacokinetics of gardenia acid and geniposide-time-antioxidant efficacy after the oral administration of Huanglian–Zhizi couplet medicine from HLJDT in rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). To investigate the differences in pharmacokinetics and antioxidant effect of Huanglian–Zhizi and HLJDT in MCAO rats, which have been scarcely reported, an oral dose, 24 crud drug g/kg, of Huanglian–Zhizi and 40 crud drug/kg of HLJDT were administered in two groups of normal rats and two groups of Sprague–Dawley (SD) MCAO rats, respectively. At different time points, concentrations of gardenia acid and geniposide were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) were calculated by ELIASA. Pharmacokinetic parameters including AUC, MRT, t 1/2 , T max , C max were estimated by statistical moment analysis using a data analysis system (DAS) 2.0. An AUC based on weighting approach was used for integrating gardenia acid and geniposide. Finally, the concentration-time efficacy profiles were obtained. The integrated pharmacokinetics profiles of index components could reveal the pharmacokinetics behavior of Huanglian–Zhizi and HLJDT, corresponding to the antioxidant efficacy.