A metabolomic and pharmacokinetic study on the mechanism underlying the lipid-lowering effect of orally administered berberine.

ABSTRACT: Clinical and animal studies demonstrated that orally administered berberine had a distinct lipid-lowering effect. However, pharmacokinetic studies showed that berberine was poorly absorbed into the body so the levels of berberine in the blood and target tissues were far below the effective concentrations revealed. To probe the underlying mechanism, the effect of berberine on the biological system was studied on a high-fat-diet-induced hamster hyperlipidemia model. Our results showed that intragastrically-administered berberine was poorly absorbed into circulation and most berberine accumulated in gut content. Although the bioavailability of intragastrically administered berberine was much lower than that of intraperitoneally administered berberine, it had a stronger lipid-lowing effect, in

SUBMITTER: Gu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4302037 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature