Comparison of pharmacokinetics between glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetic acid in rabbits

Hui Ching, Su Lan Hsiu, Yu Chi Hou, Chung Chuan Chen, Pei Dawn Lee Chao*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Glycyrrhizin is a bioactive natural glycoside. Glycyrrhetic acid is an aglycone and an active metabolite of glycyrrhizin. The anti-inflammatory activity of glycyrrhetic acid is even stronger than that of glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetic acid is responsible for the adverse effect of aldosteronism. This study attempted to compare the pharmacokinetics of glycyrrhetic acid after oral administration of equal molar doses of glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetic acid to rabbits. Six New Zealand White rabbits were orally given glycyrrhizin or glycyrrhetic acid at a dose of 178.5 μmol kg-1 in a randomized crossover design. HPLC methods were used to determine the serum concentrations of glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetic acid. A noncompartment model was used to calculate the pharmacokinetic parameters and a paired Student's t-test was used for statistical comparison. The results indicated that in addition to the absorption of glycyrrhizin per se at small intestine, oral dosing of glycyrrhizin resulted in higher AUC0-t, and MRT of glycyrrhetic acid by 443% and 354%, respectively, than those after oral dosing of glycyrrhetic acid. It can be concluded that glycyrrhizin is a good prodrug of glycyrrhetic acid.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)67-71
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Food and Drug Analysis
Volume9
Issue number2
StatePublished - 06 2001
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Glycyrrhetic acid
  • Glycyrrhizin
  • Pharmacokinetics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Comparison of pharmacokinetics between glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetic acid in rabbits'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this