HPLC-MS/MS based comparative pharmacokinetics of 12 bioactive components in normal and osteoporosis rats after oral administration of You-Gui-Wan.

You-Gui-Wan is a traditional Chinese patent medicine that has been extensively used to treat kidney-yang deficiency syndrome. An high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was developed to measure contents of 12 components of You-Gui-Wan in rat plasma. Considering that pathological changes might directly affect the pharmacokinetic behavior of drugs, this method was further applied to compare pharmacokinetics between normal and osteoporotic animals. The results indicated that osteoporosis significantly altered the pharmacokinetic characteristics of the 12 components. Thus, the pharmacokinetics of You-Gui-Wan evaluated under osteoporotic conditions was much closer to clinical practice than that in normal physiological states. Thus, the optimized analytical method, along with the pharmacokinetic evaluation in the osteoporotic model may offer a more comprehensive understanding to elucidate the anti-osteoporosis mechanism of You-Gui-Wan. These findings may aid in developing a more effective treatment plan for osteoporosis.