The metabolism of Lonicera japonica by artificial gastric juice

Using high-performance liquid chromatographic method, the metabolism of multi-constituents in the decotion of Lonicera japonica by artificial gastric juice was simultaneously studied. The original decotion and the incubated samples were separated on Agilent-C₁₈ column using methanol-water as mobile phase. The chromatographic peaks of chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, galuteolin and rutin were identified in all samples. At different intervals (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0h) after incubating the decotion of Lonicera japonica by artificial gastric juice, the concentrations of the constituents chlorogenic acid, galuteolin and rutin, were detected and compared with the ones in the original decotion and the metabolic tendencies were described. The experimental results showed: The major chromatographic peaks of the incubated samples were relegated to the original decotion, no ingredients emerged nor disappeared. The content of chlorogenic acid and galuteolin in incubated samples was lower than in the original decotion. The metabolic curves of chlorogenic acid and rutin presented an adscendent tendency, but the one of galuteolin showed little change. It was concluded, in brief, that the study established the bases for searching for L. japonica's pharmacodynamic components.

Acknowledgements: This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30672601).

References: [1] The pharmacopeia committee of China, China pharmacopeia of 2005 edition, publishing company of chemical industry:117–118. [2] L. Lin, et al. (2007) China J. CMM. (Accepted).