Objective: To develop a HPLC for the determination of plasma concentration of glycyrrhetic acid (GA) and study the pharmacokinetics of GA in rats.
Method: To sample blood from rat which were injected GA by 1.0 mg x kg(-1) at 0.08, 0.17, 0.25, 0.33, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 h and use HPLC to determine the concentration of GA in it, the pharmaeokinetie parameters were accessed by DAS 1.0.
Result: The calibration curve was linear (r = 0.999 7) within the range of 50-2 000 ng x mL(-1) for GA in plasma. The average recovery was (105.2 +/- 2.23)%, (102.5 +/- 2.95)%, (98.4 +/- 2.32)%. The within-day and between-day derivation (RSD) were less than 4%. GA was fitted to a two compartment open pharmaeokinetie model in rats. The mainly pharmaeokinetie parameters were: t1/2alpha = (0.153 +/- 0.023) h, t1/2beta = (2.365 +/- 0.866) h, C(max) = (2.074 +/- 0.100) mg x L(-1), CL = (0.715 +/- 0.082) L x h(-1) x kg(-1), V(d) = (2.427 +/- 0.872) L x kg(-1), AUC(0-6 h) = (1.302 +/- 0.151) mg x h(-1) x L(-1).
Conclusion: The method can be used to determine the concentration and to investigate the pharmacokinetics of GA in rat. GA was disposed extensively and rapidly in rats.