Pharmacokinetic investigation on eight primary active constituents of Weifuchun capsules in healthy and chronic atrophic gastritis model rats.

Weifuchun capsule (WC) is clinically employed in treating chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), yet differences in its pharmacokinetic profile between normal and chronic atrophic gastritis model rats remain insufficiently characterized. In this study, a reliable and precise ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of eight major active constituents including p‑coumaric acid, ginsenoside Rg1, kaempferol, luteolin, hesperetin, apigenin, naringenin, and tangeretin in rat plasma. This method was subsequently applied to investigate the pharmacokinetics of Weifuchun capsule. A chronic atrophic gastritis model was established using a modified chemical stimulation method. Plasma samples were pretreated via protein precipitation with chloramphenicol as the internal standard and then analyzed. The intra- and inter-day precision for all eight analytes was below 6.32 %, with accuracies within ±5.19 %. Extraction recoveries ranged from 89.15 % to 112.50 %, and matrix effects were between 95.69 % and 104.83 %. All analytes demonstrated satisfactory stability under various storage conditions. The validated method was successfully applied to a comparative pharmacokinetic study. Compared with the normal group, the chronic atrophic gastritis model group exhibited significantly increased Cmax and AUC0→t values for ginsenoside Rg1, hesperetin, and naringenin (p < 0.05), along with significantly elevated Cmax for kaempferol and apigenin (p < 0.05). Additionally, t1/2 was significantly shortened for ginsenoside Rg1 and p-coumaric acid. These findings suggest enhanced absorption and accelerated elimination of certain bioactive components of Weifuchun capsules under chronic atrophic gastritis pathological conditions. The altered pharmacokinetic behavior of multiple active compounds of Weifuchun capsules in chronic atrophic gastritis model rats provides important insights into the pharmacological mechanisms of Weifuchun capsules in the treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis.