The Effect of Tanreqing Injection on the Pharmacokinetics of Sirolimus in Rats

To evaluate the effect of Tanreqing injection on the pharmacokinetics of sirolimus in rats, a high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for sirolimus assay in whole blood. Calibration curve of sirolimus was acquired over a concentration ranging from 2.5 to 100 ng/mL with r(2)= 0.9955. The matrix effects and extraction recoveries of sirolimus ranged from 144% to 152% and from 80% to 96%, respectively. The inter- and intraday relative standard deviations were both <10%. The stability investigation showed that the blood samples were stable for 30-day-storage at −20°C, for 8 h storage at room temperature, for 24 h storage in the auto-sampler at 4°C, and for three freeze-thaw cycle process. The pharmacokinetic results demonstrated that the C(max), AUC, and AUMC of sirolimus in rats (7.5 mg/kg, i.g.) were increased after beincoadministration with Tanreqing Injection at 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5 mL/kg (i.v.), respectively, or at 5 min, 2 h, and 4 h (5.0 mL/kg, i.v.) after SRL dosing, respectively. For the first time, the results proved the herb-drug interaction between Tanreqing Injection and sirolimus and accordingly suggested avoiding concurrent reception of those two drugs for patients.