Comparative Pharmacokinetics and Bioavailability of Epimedin C in Rat after Intramuscular Administration of Epimedin C, a Combination of Four Flavonoid Glycosides and Purified Herba Epimedii Extract

Abstract EN

Chuan-Ke-Zhi (CKZ), a purified Herba Epimedii extract, is a potent Chinese medicine preparation whose main bioactive components are a class of flavonoid glycosides such as epimedins A, B, and C and icariin.

And epimedin C is far more abundant than other flavones in this extract.

This study aims to investigate the pharmacokinetic and bioavailability of epimedin C and what effects, if any, other ingredients in CKZ have on its pharmacokinetics.

Epimedin C, CKZ, and a combination of epimedins A, B, and C and icariin were, respectively, administrated to rats, and then the pharmacokinetic parameters of epimedin C in the three groups were calculated and compared.

The result indicated that C L Z , M R T 0 – ∞ , and A U C 0 – ∞ of epimedin C were significantly different among the three groups ( P < 0.05 ), and compared with the epimedin C group, the absorption of epimedin C significantly increased in the CKZ group.

Furthermore, in this study the absolute bioavailability of epimedin C was also investigated by comparing intramuscular and intravenous administration of epimedin C.

As a result, epimedin C could be quickly absorbed with extremely high absolute bioavailability after intramuscular administration.