Berberine Cyclosporine

XinHW, WuXe, Li Q, Yu AR, Zhong MY, Liu YY. The effects of berberine ontiie pharmacokinetics of cyclosporin A in healthy volunteers. Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol (2006) 28,25-9. 

Human studies have provided mixed results on the effects of the compound berberine on cyclosporine A, with one... 

In a randomized controlled trial of renal transplant patients taking cyclosporine A and 200 mg of the compound berberine three times daily for 3 months, the minimum blood concentrations of cyclosporine A increased by 88.9% and the ratios of concentration/dose of cyclosporine A in the berberine-treated group increased by 98.4%. In the control group, the increase in trough blood concentrations of cyclosporine A was 64.5% and the increase in the ratio of concentration/dose of cyclosporine A was 69.4%. The authors indicated that the mechanism for this interaction is most likely an inhibition of CYP3A4 by berberine (Wu et al. 2005). 

An increase in bioavailability of orally administered cyclosporine A was observed after healthy male volunteers were administered a single dose of 3 mg cyclosporine A followed by a single oral dose of 300 mg of the compound berberine. The increase in area under the time-concentration curve of cyclosporine A was 19.2% no changes in elimination half-life, maximum blood drug concentration, time to maximum concentration, or apparent oral clearance were observed (Xin et al. 2006). Conversely, no changes in bioavailability of orally administered cyclosporine A were observed after healthy male volunteers were administered 300 mg of the compound berberine twice daily for 10 days followed by a single dose of 6 mg cyclosporine A (Xin et al. 2006). 

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