Pharmacokinetic comparison of puerarin after oral administration of Jiawei-Xiaoyao-San to healthy volunteers and patients with functional dyspepsia: influence of disease state

Objectives An investigation has been designed and conducted to compare the pharmaco-kinetics of puerarin after oral administration of Jiawei-Xiaoyao-San to healthy volunteers and to patients with functional dyspepsia. Methods Quantification of puerarin in serum was achieved using a simple and rapid HPLC method for pharmacokinetic study. Key findings After oral administration of decoctions of Jiawei-Xiaoyao-San to healthy volunteers and patients with functional dyspepsia, puerarin was absorbed and reached a maximum concentration of 56.47 ± 15.60 and 29.40 ± 8.89 ng/ml at 51.00 ± 8.22 and 50.00 ± 12.25 min, respectively. Compared with the value of AUC0–360 (5.55 ± 1.47 μg/ml min) in healthy volunteers, a smaller value of AUC0–360 (3.35 ± 1.17 μg/ml min) was observed in patients with functional dyspepsia. Conclusions There were statistically significant differences in the pharmacokinetic parameters of puerarin including the values for Cmax, AUC0–360, Cl/F and MRT0–360 between healthy volunteers and patients with functional dyspepsia. The pharmacokinetic parameters showed that functional dyspepsia reduced the absorption of puerarin after oral administration of Jiawei-Xiaoyao-San.