title: In Vivo and in Vitro Study on Drug-Drug Interaction of Lovastatin and Berberine from Pharmacokinetic and HepG2 Cell Metabolism Studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We assumed that the pharmacokinetics of lovastatin could be changed by the induction effect of berberine.
  
  
  METHODS
  An UPLC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the pharmacokinetics tudy of lovastatin to investigate the in vivo drug-drug interactions between lovastatin and berberine. SD male rats were random divided into lovastatin group and berberine induced prior to lovastatin group for the in vivo pharmacokinetic studies. Meanwhile HepG2 cells were induced by berberine for three days to study the metabolism of lovastatin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The AUC (p < 0.01) and Cmax (p < 0.01) could be significantly decreased in the berberine-induced group in vivo, and the metabolic activity of HepG2 cell ccould be increased by berberine induction in vitro. The metabolism parameters of lovastatin such as CL, Vmax and Km were increased after the induction of berberine. From the pharmacokinetic study of lovastatin induced with berberine, we obtained pharmacokinetic parameters which are compliance with the metabolic parameters of lovastatin in HepG2 cells with berberine induction in vitro.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  From the in vivo pharmacokinetics study and the HepG2 cell metabolism study in vitro, berberine could be an inducer for the metabolism of lovastatin according to our previous research on berberine induction effects on HepG2 cells, which may be relevant to the fact that berberine possesses induction effects through the CYP 450 3A4 enzyme.
authors.affiliation: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China. cui-yaoshi@163.com.
authors.forename: Hanming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China. footprint666@163.com.
authors.forename: Jialong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China. piaoliumu828@163.com.
authors.forename: Qiuyan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Shannxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xianyang 712046, China. danseshijue1206@163.com.
authors.forename: Mengmeng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dang
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Shannxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xianyang 712046, China. 13279563002@163.com.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China. dongyu250541@sina.com.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China. 13920026618@163.com.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Ankang University, Ankang 725000, China. akxyyf@163.com.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Shannxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xianyang 712046, China. wu0700@163.com.
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China. xiaolintong66@sina.com.
authors.forename: Xiaolin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001599:Berberine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D051544:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A / Q000378:metabolism*; D004347:Drug Interactions; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D008148:Lovastatin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D001599:Berberine; D008148:Lovastatin; D051544:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A
keywords: HepG2 cell; berberine; in vivo and in vitro; lovastatin; pharmacokinetics