Improvement of dissolution and bioavailability of Ginsenosides by hot melt extrusion and cogrinding

The main purpose of this paper was to improve the dissolution and bioavailability of Ginsenosides (GS) which contained 20(S)-protopanaxadiol (PPD) and 20(S)-protopanaxatriol (PPT) by two methods, and to compare their performance in vitro and in vivo with GS extracts. GS-solid dispersion (SD) were prepared by hot melt extrusion (HME), and GS coground mixture were prepared by cogrinding. In 500 mL 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) aqueous solution, dissolution of GS-SD and GS coground mixture were both improved comparing with GS extracts. And dissolution of GS-SD was above 90%, which was better than GS coground mixture whose dissolution was about 70%. In GS-SD, GS coground mixture and GS extracts, the AUC(0 → 48) of PPD were 1439.9 ± 435.71, 1618.2 ± 571.9 and 1089.8 ± 359.9 ng · h/mL, and the AUC(0 → 48) of PPT were 683.1 ± 197.7, 736.0 ± 226.0 and 439.8 ± 193.6 ng · h/mL. The results revealed that bioavailability of GS-SD and GS coground mixture was better than GS extracts, but bioavailability of GS-SD was lower than GS coground mixture, which was not consistent with the results of dissolution. The results perhaps caused by the phospholipid in GS coground mixture which played a role as absorption enhancement. It is apparent that both HME and cogrinding can improve the dissolution and bioavailability of GS.