Pharmacological study on free anthraquinones compounds in rhubarb in rats with experimental acute pancreatitis

OBJECTIVE: To verify the pharmacological hypothesis of prescriptions by studying the targeted distribution of major components in stewed rhubarb in the rat model with acute pancreatitis (AP). METHOD: Normal SD rats (control group, n = 5) and the AP model induced with intraperitoneal cerulein (model group, n = 5) were taken as the experimental objects. Rats of the two groups were orally administered with stewed rhubarb granules (20 g x kg(-1)). Their heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and pancreas were collected two hours after the administration. Such constituents as emodin, chrysophanol, physcion, rhein and aloe-emodin and their concentrations in each tissue homogenate were detected by high performance liquid chromatography-mass-mass. RESULT: Aloe-emodin and physcion in stewed rhubarb whose concentrations in liver and kidney of normal rats were higher than that in pancreatic tissues, while the distribution spectrums and concentrations of the remaining components in pancreatic tissues had no significant difference with that of other organs. The concentrations of emodin, aloe-emodin, rhein and chrysophanol in stewed rhubarb in pancreatic tissues of the AP model group were higher than that in other tissues and organs, while their concentrations in pancreatic, renal and splenic tissues were notably higher than that in the normal group. CONCLUSION: In the conditions of AP, effective components in stewed rhubarb show a targeted distribution feature in pancreas, which provides experimental basis for the pharmacological hypothesis of prescriptions.