Pharmacokinetic Studies of Chinese Medicinal Herbs Using an Automated Blood Sampling System and Liquid Chromatography-mass Spectrometry.
The safety of herbal products is one of the major concerns for the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine, and pharmacokinetic data of medicinal herbs guide us to design the rational use of the herbal formula. This article reviews the advantages of the automated blood sampling (ABS) systems for pharmacokinetic studies. In addition, three commonly used sample preparative methods, protein precipitation, liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction, are introduced. Furthermore, the definition, causes and evaluation of matrix effects in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis are demonstrated. Finally, we present our previous works as practical examples of the application of ABS systems and LC/MS for the pharmacokinetic studies of Chinese medicinal herbs.
Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan ; Department of Education and Research, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yu-Tse
YT
Wu
Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Ming-Tsang
MT
Wu
Institute of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chia-Chun
CC
Lin
Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chao-Feng
CF
Chien
Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan ; Department of Education and Research, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Tung-Hu
TH
Tsai
Automated blood sampling systems; Chinese medicinal herbs; Liquid chromatographymass Spectrometry; Pharmacokinetics