High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of evodiamine in rat plasma: application to pharmacokinetic studies

Major Indole Alkaloids in Evodia Rutaecarpa: The Latest Insights and Review of Their Impact on Gastrointestinal Diseases

Evodia rutaecarpa, the near-ripe fruit of Euodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth, Euodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. var. officinalis (Dode) Huang, or Euodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. var. bodinieri (Dode) Huang, is a famous herbal medicine with several biological activities and therapeutic values, which has been applied for abdominalgia, abdominal distension, vomiting, and diarrhea as a complementary and alternative therapy in clinic. Indole alkaloids, particularly evodiamine (EVO), rutaecarpine (RUT), and dedhydroevodiamine (DHE), are received rising attention as the major bioactivity compounds in Evodia rutaecarpa. Therefore, this review summarizes the physicochemical properties, pharmacological activities, pharmacokinetics, and therapeutic effects on gastrointestinal diseases of these three indole alkaloids with original literature collected by PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection, and CNKI up to June 2023. Despite sharing the same parent nucleus, EVO, RUT, and DHE have different structural and chemical properties, which result in different advantages of biological effects. In their wide range of pharmacological activities, the anti-migratory activity of RUT is less effective than that of EVO, and the neuroprotection of DHE is significant. Additionally, although DHE has a higher bioavailability, EVO and RUT display better permeabilities within blood-brain barrier. These three indole alkaloids can alleviate gastrointestinal inflammatory in particular, and EVO also has outstanding anti-cancer effect, although clinical trials are still required to further support their therapeutic potential.

N(14)-substituted evodiamine derivatives as dual topoisomerase 1/tubulin-Inhibiting anti-gastrointestinal tumor agents

Gastrointestinal tumor is an important factor threatening human health. Natural product-based drug discovery is a popular paradigm for expanding the chemical space and identifying new molecular entities that ameliorate human disease. Evodiamine-inspired medicinal chemistry presents therapeutic potential for treating tumors in different tissues via multi-target inhibition. Here, by focusing on the discovery of anti-gastrointestinal tumor drugs, a series of N(14) alkyl-substituted evodiamine derivatives were designed and synthesized. The structure-activity relationship studies culminated in the identification of the N(14)-propyl-substituted evodiamine analog 6b, which showed low nanomolar inhibitory activity against MGC-803 (IC₅₀ = 0.09 μM) and RKO (IC₅₀ = 0.2 μM) cell lines. Moreover, compound 6b was effective in inducing apoptosis, arresting the cell cycle in the G2/M phase, and inhibiting migration and invasion of MGC-803 and RKO cell lines in a dose-dependent manner in vitro. Further antitumor mechanism studies revealed that compound 6b significantly inhibited topoisomerase 1 (inhibition rate of 58.3% at 50 μM) and tubulin polymerization (IC₅₀ = 5.69 μM). Overall, compound 6b represents a promising dual topoisomerase 1/tubulin-targeting lead structure for the treatment of gastrointestinal tumor.

Research progress on evodiamine, a bioactive alkaloid of Evodiae fructus: Focus on its anti-cancer activity and bioavailability (Review)

Evodiae fructus (Wu-Zhu-Yu in Chinese) can be isolated from the dried, unripe fruits of Tetradium ruticarpum and is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine that is applied extensively in China, Japan and Korea. Evodiae fructus has been traditionally used to treat headaches, abdominal pain and menorrhalgia. In addition, it is widely used as a dietary supplement to provide carboxylic acids, essential oils and flavonoids. Evodiamine (EVO) is one of the major bioactive components contained within Evodiae fructus and is considered to be a potential candidate anti-cancer agent. EVO has been reported to exert anti-cancer effects by inhibiting cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis, whilst inducing apoptosis in numerous types of cancer cells. However, EVO is susceptible to metabolism and may inhibit the activities of metabolizing enzymes, such as cytochrome P450. Clinical application of EVO in the treatment of cancers may prove difficult due to poor bioavailability and potential toxicity due to metabolism. Currently, novel drug carriers involving the use of solid dispersion techniques, phospholipids and nanocomplexes to deliver EVO to improve its bioavailability and mitigate side effects have been tested. The present review aims to summarize the reported anti-cancer effects of EVO whilst discussing the pharmacokinetic behaviors, characteristics and effective delivery systems of EVO.

Simultaneous determination of evodiamine and evodine in Beagle dog plasma using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

A sensitive, rapid, and specific liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry assay has been established and validated for the quantitation of evodiamine and evodine in Beagle dog plasma. Plasma samples of 0.2 ml were processed by liquid-liquid extraction with n-hexane/ethyl acetate (2:1, v/v). Chromatographic separations were done on a Symmetry C18 column (100 mm × 4.6 mm, ID, 5 μm) at 35°C with a linear gradient of methanol and 20 mM ammonium formate containing 0.2% formic acid. Evodiamine, evodine, and glibenclamide [internal standard (IS)] were ionized with an electrospray ionization source operated in positive ion mode. The MS/MS transitions were m/z 304.1 → 161.1 for evodiamine, m/z 471.2 → 425.1 for evodine, and m/z 494.1 → 369.1 for IS. Calibration curves were linear over the concentration range of 0.1-100 ng/ml for evodiamine and 0.5-500 ng/ml for evodine. The mean extraction recoveries were 88.10 ± 3.21% for evodiamine and 81.24 ± 4.07% for evodine. The intra- and inter-day precisions were less than 11.10% and 12.81%, and the accuracy was within ± 11.76% for both analytes. Evodiamine and evodine were stable during storage and analytical periods. The validated method has been successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of evodiamine and evodine in beagle dogs after oral administration.

Pharmacological actions of multi-target-directed evodiamine

Evodiamine, a naturally occurring indole alkaloid, is one of the main bioactive ingredients of Evodiae fructus. With respect to the pharmacological actions of evodiamine, more attention has been paid to beneficial effects in insults involving cancer, obesity, nociception, inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer's disease, infectious diseases and themoregulative effects. evodiamine has evolved a superior ability to bind various proteins, so we also argue that it is good starting point for multi-target drugs. This review is primarily addressed to the description of the recent advances in the biological activity studies of evodiamine, with a focus on pharmacological mechanism. The present review also includes the pharmacokinetics and the detailed exploration of target-binding properties of evodiamine in an attempt to provide a direction for further multi-target drug design.

Pharmacokinetic comparisons of rutaecarpine and evodiamine after oral administration of Wu-Chu-Yu extracts with different purities to rats

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Wu-Chu-Yu is a well-known herbal drug used for hypertension. Rutaecarpine and evodiamine are main bioactive components of the medicine.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A sensitive and specific HPLC method was developed to analyze rutaecarpine (Rut) and evodiamine (Evo) in rat whole blood. The pharmacokinetics of Rut and Evo after oral administration of Wu-Chu-Yu extracts with different purities to rats was compared to evaluate the effect of purity of Wu-Chu-Yu extracts on the absorption of Rut and Evo. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given Wu-Chu-Yu extracts with different purities (high, medium and low) approximately the same doses of equivalent to Rut (40 mg/kg) and Evo (31 mg/kg). The contents of Rut and Evo were 45 and 35%, 28 and 21%, 9 and 7% in high, medium and low purity extracts, respectively. At different time points (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 and 4h) after administration, the concentrations of Rut and Evo in rat whole blood were determined by HPLC, and main pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated.

RESULTS

The results indicated that the absorption of Rut and Evo in Wu-Chu-Yu extracts was improved when compared with the pure Rut and Evo and there were significant differences among different groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The bioavailability of Rut and Evo was increased along with the increasing of purity (16%-80%) in Wu-Chu-Yu extracts.

Simultaneous determination and pharmacokinetic analysis of seven alkaloids and two flavonoids from rat plasma by HPLC-DAD after oral administration of Wuzhuyu decoction

A simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous determination and pharmacokinetic analysis of seven alkaloids dehydroevodiamine (DHED), 10-hydroxyrutaecarpine (HDR), evodiamine (EDM), rutaecarpine (RCP), 1-methyl-2-n-nonyl-4(1H)quinolone (MNQ), evocarpine (ECP), and dihydroevocarpine (DHE), and two flavonoids isorhamnetin-7-O-rutinoside (RIM) and diosmetin-7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (GRD) in rat plasma after oral administration of Wuzhuyu decoction. The flow rate was kept at 1.0 ml/min and the detection wavelength was set at 300 nm. The calibration curves were linear in the range of 0.5013-30.076 μg/ml for DHED, 0.2161-21.608 μg/ml for RIM, 0.161-12.876 μg/ml for HDR, 0.2146-21.457 μg/ml for GRD, 2.0464-40.928 μg/ml for EDM, 1.0398-31.194 μg/ml for RCP, 0.5970-35.818 μg/ml for MNQ, 0.8371-20.928 μg/ml for ECP, and 0.5167-31.003 μg/ml for DHE. The precision (relative standard deviation (RSD), %) for all was less than 10% and the accuracy (relative error (RE), %) was within ± 10%. The results demonstrated that the assay had remarkable reproducibility with acceptable accuracy and precision. The lower limit of quantifications for the compounds in plasma ranged from 0.12 to 0.23 μg/ml and the lower limit of detections ranged from 0.024 to 0.076 μg/ml. This validated method has been successfully applied in the pharmacokinetics study of seven alkaloids and two flavonoids after orally administrating the Wuzhuyu decoction to rats.

Comparative pharmacokinetics of dehydroevodiamine and coptisine in rat plasma after oral administration of single herbs and Zuojinwan prescription

Zuojinwan, which consists of Rhizoma coptidis-Evodia rutaecarpa powder (6:1,g/g), is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription, clinically used for the treatment of gastro-intestinal disorders. This study compared the pharmacokinetics of dehydroevodiamine and coptisine, the main active ingredients in Zuojinwan, in rats administrated with whole prescription or single herbs. Multiple blood concentration peaks were observed in the mean plasma-concentration curves. The pharmacokinetic parameters were quite different between single herbs and Zuojinwan prescription. Moreover, the mean plasma concentration of dehydroevodiamine increased and the one of coptisine decreased after combining, which was in accord with the clinical principle of TCM.

Short Communication: In Vivo Evaluation of Microemulsion System for Oral and Parenteral Delivery of Rutaecarpine to Rats

Rutaecarpine-loaded microemulsion composed of 10.8% polyethylene glycol 400, 7.2% Tween 80, 20% caster oil, and 62% water were previously reported to be physically and chemically stable for at least 6 months. For the development of a Rutaecarpine-loaded microemulsion, here we studied the pharmacokinetic profiles of rutaecarpine after oral and intravenous administration of rutaecarpine-loaded microemulsion compared to suspension. The AUC of rutaecarpine from microemulsion after oral and intravenous administration increased about three-fold compared with that from suspension. Furthermore, the rutaecarpine-loaded microemulsion gave significantly higher AUC and Cmax than did suspension, suggesting that the oral bioavailability of rutaecarpine in this microemulsion system could be enhanced due to the enhanced solubility of rutaecarpine by microemulsion. Thus, our results indicated that the microemulsion system composed of castor oil, polyethylene glycol 400, Tween 80, and water could be a more effective oral and parenteral dosage form for rutaecarpine.

Chemical and biological comparisons on Evodia with two related species of different locations and conditions

Evodia rutaecarpa (ER) and Tetradium glabrifolium (TG) are closely related species collected from different locations, with processed versus unprocessed and fresh versus 1-year-old samples. The purpose of this study is to determine the variability of their bioactive constituents; evodiamine, dehydroevodiamine, rutaecarpine and synephrine--as well as their relaxing effects on an isolated rat aortas and uterus using the extracts of the test specimens. The vasorelaxation was greater in ER from Taiwan than from China in spite of lower levels of the relaxing alkaloids evodiamine, dehydroevodiamine and rutaecarpine. On the other hand, the uterine relaxation of ER from China was better than the one from Taiwan, even though constricting synephrine was only contained in Chinese ER. After processing, the relaxation of ER from China in the uterus was increased while the vasorelaxation remained unchanged. Conversely, TG from Wu-ling contained more relaxing alkaloids than that from Lee Mountain. However, the relaxation in both the uterus and the aorta was less in TG from Wu-ling. After 1 year of storage, the vasorelaxation of TG from Lee Mountain was not changed. Taken together, a significant finding in the present study is the lack of correction between chemical composition and relaxing activities. This strongly supports our assumption that biological function evaluations, instead of chemical standardization, is the more adequate way of showing meaningful consistency of natural preparations.

Determination of evodiamine and rutecarpine in human serum by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Evodiamine and rutecarpine are two kinds of indole alkaloids contained in the fruit of Evodiae fructus, which have been shown to exhibit various bioactivities in humans. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method (LC-MS/MS) was developed for the determination of evodiamine and rutecarpine in human serum. The serum was extracted by solid-phase extraction (SPE) and analyzed using a C18 column and a mobile phase consisting of methanol-water (85:15) solution containing 5 mmol/L ammonium formate at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The mass spectrometer was operated in positive mode, employing the extracted ion chromatogram (EIC) for detection and quantitation of evodiamine (m/z 288) and rutecarpine (m/z 304). Good linear relationships between the peak area and the concentration were obtained in the ranges of 5.2-1040 ng/mL and 10.2-1020 ng/mL, with correlation coefficients (r) of 0.999 and 0.998, for evodiamine and rutecarpine, respectively. The repeatabilities (RSD, n=6) of quantitation for evodiamine and rutecarpine were 2.18-4.00% and 2.99-5.67%, respectively, and the recovery ranged from 90.5% to 98.1%. A comparative study of the different ionization and quantitation modes, including ESI-MS, ESI-MS/MS, APCI-MS and APCI-MS/MS, was also accomplished. The MS/MS fragmentation mechanism of the base peak ([M+H](+), m/z 304) of evodiamine was investigated in order to identify the analytes in more complicated body fluid samples.

Development and validation of HPLC methods for the analysis of phenethylamine and indoloquinazoline alkaloids inEvodiaspecies

The aim of this study was to evaluate the chromatographic performance of a PEG stationary phase, in comparison with those of C18 columns, for the HPLC analysis of phenethylamine ((+/-)-synephrine) and indoloquinazoline (rutaecarpine and evodiamine) alkaloids in methanolic extracts of fruits of Evodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. and E. rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. var. officinalis (Dode) Huang (i.e., E. officinalis Dode) (Rutaceae family). The method was validated and showed good linearity, precision, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. The highest content of both phenethylamine and indoloquinazoline alkaloids was found in methanolic fruit extracts of E. rutaecarpa, and it was closely related to the degree of maturity. E. officinalis fruits displayed low amounts of both types of alkaloids. Furthermore, an enantioselective HPLC method for the enantioseparation of (+/-)-synephrine from Evodia fruits was applied, by using a protein-based chiral stationary phase with cellobiohydrolase (CBH) as the chiral selector (Chiral-CBH). Isolation of synephrine from Evodia aqueous fruit extracts was carried out by strong cation-exchange SPE. The results of the application of the method to the analysis of Evodia samples showed that (-)-synephrine was the main component while (+)-synephrine was present in low concentration.

Simultaneous determinations of paeonol and palmatine hydrochloride in Shangshi Aerosols by HPLC method

A simple and rapid HPLC method was described for the simultaneous determination of paeonol and palmatine hydrochloride in Shangshi Aerosols. The optimum separation for these analytes was achieved using the mixture of 0.025 M sodium dihydrogen phosphate-acetonitrile-diethylamine (64:35:1, v/v/v) as the mobile phase and a Nova-Pak((R)) C8 column. The linear ranges of paeonol and palmatine hydrochloride were 0.2-80 and 0.06-60 microg/ml with the regression equations being Y=11716.4+2.96 x 10(6)X (R=0.99969), Y=-6388.8+1.89 x 10(5)X (R=0.99976), and limit of quantifications (LOQ) for paeonol and palmatine hydrochloride were 0.2 and 0.06 microg/ml, respectively (n=6). Other validation parameters: intra-day precision (R.S.D.: 0.71-1.65%) and inter-day precision (R.S.D.: 0.89-2.11%), and reproducibility (recoveries values: 94.6-98.2% for paeonol, 94.85-97.58% for palmatine hydrochloride) were found to be satisfactory. The proposed HPLC method had been applied for the determination of paeonol and palmatine hydrochloride in Shangshi Aerosols; R.S.D. values were 1.45 and 1.13%, respectively. In short, this method was rapid and convenient, which could be used for the routine control of paeonol and palmatine hydrochloride in Shangshi Aerosols.

Pharmacokinetic Characterization of Dehydroevodiamine in the Rat Brain

The objective of this study was to examine the kinetics of the distribution of dehydroevodiamine (DHED) in the rat brain. After an intravenous infusion of 15 min (dose of 1-10 mg/kg), the temporal profiles of the plasma levels of DHED declined in a multiexponential manner. Moment analysis indicated that the clearance and steady-state volume of distribution for DHED were not statistically different with the dose, indicating that the pharmacokinetics for DHED is linear in the range examined. Nonlinear regression analysis of DHED concentrations in the plasma and the brain revealed that the linear kinetics into and out from the brain reasonably described the data and that the clearances for influx into and efflux from the brain were comparable. Transport clearances for DHED across MBEC4 monolayers, an in vitro model of the blood-brain barrier, were also comparable for influx and efflux, and were independent of the medium concentration. The concentration of DHED in cerebrospinal fluid was negligible compared with that found in plasma, indicating that the drug is not primarily distributed to the brain via the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier. These observations indicate that DHED is transported from the systemic circulation to the brain via the blood-brain barrier by linear kinetics.

Pharmacological profile of evodiamine in isolated rabbit corpus cavernosum

This study was designed to examine the pharmacological properties of evodiamine in isolated rabbit corpus cavernosum. In phenylephrine-precontracted cavernosal strips, evodiamine (0.01-10 microM) induced a concentration-dependent relaxation. Endothelium removal, N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), or 1-H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo [4,3-alpha] quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ) treatment did not affect this effect. In endothelium-denuded preparations, evodiamine-evoked response was significantly reduced in 60 mM KCl-precontracted strips and by charybdotoxin treatment, but not by glibenclamide. Higher-concentration evodiamine (> or =10 microM)-induced relaxation was also accompanied by an increase in cAMP and cGMP levels, but this effect was not affected by cis-N-(2-phenylcyclopentyl)-azacyclotridec-1-en-2-amine mono-hydrochloride (MDL-12,330A, an adenylyl cyclase inhibitor) or ODQ (a guanylyl cyclase inhibitor), respectively. Evodiamine significantly augmented both the corporal relaxation and the accumulation of cyclic nucleotides to sodium nitroprusside and forskolin, respectively. Evodiamine also enhanced electrical field stimulation-evoked relaxation, and this additive effect was significantly counteracted by zaprinast. In preparations obtained from aged rabbits, evodiamine still elicited complete relaxation; in contrast, acetylcholine- and sodium nitroprusside-evoked maximal response was significantly blunted. In summary, evodiamine possesses a potent corporal relaxing effect which is attributable to endothelium-independent properties probably linked to charybdotoxin-sensitive K(+) channel activation in the cavernosal vasculature and by nonselective interfering phosphodiesterase to prevent cyclic nucleotide degradation. Furthermore, the physiological effects of evodiamine on the aged animals may implicate a potential for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.

Effects of evodiamine on the secretion of testosterone in rat testicular interstitial cells

Evodiamine, a bioactive component isolated from the Chinese medicine Wu-chu-yu, exhibits vasodilative and antianoxic action. Although evodiamine indeed has many biological effects, its effects on the endocrine system are not clear. The present study explored the effects of evodiamine on testosterone secretion in vitro. Rat collagenase-dispersed testicular interstitial cells (TICs) were incubated with evodiamine (0 to 10(-4) mol/L) in the presence or absence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), forskolin, 8-bromo-adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (8-Br-cAMP), or steroidogenic precursors (including 25-hydroxycholesterol, pregnenolone, progesterone, 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, and androstenedione) at 34 degrees C for 1 hour. The testosterone concentration in the media samples was measured by radioimmunoassay. Evodiamine 10(-4) mol/L was effective to reduce both basal and hCG-stimulated testosterone secretion in rat TICs after 1, 2, or 4 hours of incubation. The stimulatory effect of forskolin on testosterone release in TICs was prevented by administration of evodiamine. Evodiamine 10(-4) mol/L also decreased 8-Br-cAMP- and androstenedione-stimulated testosterone secretion. These results suggest that evodiamine reduces testosterone secretion in rat TICs via a mechanism involving reduced activity of cAMP-related pathways and 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17beta-HSD).