Pharmacokinetics and vasodilating effect study of beraprost sodium in healthy volunteers

Currently beraprost sodium (BPS) is widely proposed to ameliorate the symptoms caused by chronic arterial occlusive disease. The objective of this study is to investigate the BPS pharmacokinetic characteristics, its vasodilating effect and the relationship between plasma concentration vs response effect. 12 healthy Chinese volunteers (6 male, 6 female) were chosen to participate in a single center, random, and open design study. After overnight fasting, BPS (dose = 40?g) was administrated orally to each volunteer. The blood samples were collected at different time points (from 0 to 5 h after administration) and BPS concentration was analyzed by LC-MS/MS method. The vasodilating effect was evaluated by detecting the skin microcirculation blood flow of volunteers’ fingers with laser Doppler fluxmetry. The Cmax of BPS was (601.14 ± 214.81) pg/mL, the Tmax was (0.58 ± 0.48) h, and AUC0-t was (1020.41±214.63) pg/mL•h. BPS exhibited significant vasodilating effect since the skin microcirculation blood flow increased definitely at 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 h (all p<0.05) after drug administration, and a positive correlation was presented between the pharmacokinetics and the vasodilating effect, which would be beneficial for guiding BPS dosage in clinical.