Rutaecarpine enhances the anti-diabetic activity and hepatic distribution of metformin via up-regulation of Oct1 in diabetic rats

Abstract

1. Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder with multiple complications, patients who receive metformin may have a simultaneous intake of herbal medicine containing rutaecarpine due to cardiovascular protection and hypolipidemic effects of rutaecarpine. There might be drug interactions between metformin and rutaecarpine. This study aimed to investigate the effects of rutaecarpine on the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of metformin in diabetic rats.

2. The diabetic rat model was induced with high-fat diet and low dose streptozotocin. Metformin with or without rutaecarpine was administered by oral gavage for 42 days. Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics parameters were evaluated.

3. The pharmacodynamics results revealed that co-administration of rutaecarpine with metformin resulted in a remarkable reduction of serum glucose and lipid profiles in diabetic rats compared to metformin treated alone. The pharmacokinetics results showed that co-treatments of rutaecarpine with metformin did not affect the systemic exposure and renal distribution of metformin, but increased metformin concentration in liver. Furthermore, rutaecarpine increased Oct1-mediated metformin uptake into hepatocytes by upregulation of Oct1 expression in the liver.

4. The above data indicate that rutaecarpine enhanced the anti-diabetic effect of metformin, which may be associated with the increased hepatic distribution of metformin through up-regulation of Oct1 in response to rutaecarpine.

Keywords:

• Rutaecarpine
• metformin
• diabetes
• hepatic distribution
• organic cation transporter

Disclosure statement

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81873022, 81403124] and the Chinese Medicine Research Project of Henan Province [2016ZY2022].