| Disease | THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO EVALUATE HEART RATE AND BLOOD PRESSURE RESPONSES TO A COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SOURCE OF MA-HAUNG, AND TO EVALUATE THE PHARMACOKINETIC PROPERTIES OF THE PRODUCT IN NORMOTENSIVE, HEALTHY ADULTS. ON DAY 1, TWELVE
STUDY PARTICIPANTS WERE MONITORED WITH AN AMBULATORY BLOOD PRESSURE DEVICE BETWEEN HOURS 7 AND 20. ON DAY 2, THEY INGESTED FOUR CAPSULS OF POWDERED MA-PHUANG AT HOURS 8 AND 17 WHILE AGAINS WEARING THE MONITOR BETWEEN HOURS 7 AND 20. SERIAL
PLASMA SAMPLES WERE OBTAINED AND CONCENTRATIONS OF EPHEDRINE WERE ANLAYZED BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY. PHARMACOKINETIC PARAMETERS OF EPHEDRINE WERE DETERMINED FROM PLASMA CONCENTRATION-TINMES PROFILES. SIX PARTICIPANTS
EXPERINCED A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN HEART RATE, BUT THE EFFECTS ON BLOOD PRESSURE WERE VARIABLE. THE HALF-LIFE, VOLUME OF DISTRIBUTION, CLEARANCE, AND MAXIMUM CONCENTRATION IN PLASM OF EPHEDRINE IN THE MA-HUANG PRODUCT WERE
SIMILAR TO VALUES PREVIOUSLY REPORTED FOR A 20-MG, IMMEDIATE-RELEASE EPHEDRINE TABLET, VALUES FOR THE ABSORPTION RATE WERE CONSIDERABLY LOWER AND TIME TO REACH MAXIMUM CONCENTRATION WAS LONGER FOR THE CAPSULES, COMPARED WITH THE STANDARD
TABLET, VARIABILITY IN ALKALOID CONTENT OF EPHEDRINE WAS LOW AND YIELDED A MEAN DOSE OF EPHEDRINE AT 19.4 MG; PSEUDOESPHEDRINE AT 4.9 MG; AND METHYLEPHEDRINE AT 1.2 MG FOR A FOUR-CAPSULE DOSE. IN SUMMARY, MA-HAUNG HAD VARIABLE EFFECTS ON
BLOOD PRESSURE AND INCREASED HEART RATE IN HEALTHY, NORMOTENSIVE ADULTS. PHARMACOKINETIC PARAMETERS FOR EPHEDRINE WERE IN AGREEMENT WITH THOSE PREVIOUSLY REPORTED; HOWEVER, THE ABSORPTION RATE WAS MUCH SLOWER AFTER INGESTION OF MA-HUANG. |