Effects of Oridonin on Hepatic Cytochrome P450 Expression and Activities in PXR-Humanized Mice

Oridonin, the major terpene found in Rabdosia rubescens, is widely used as dietary supplement or therapeutic drug, while the effects of oridonin on CYP450 were still unclear. The pregnane X receptor (PXR) is an important regulatory factor for major drug metabolism enzyme CYPs, and it has been reported to have species-specific differences. Therefore, this study has employed more reliable models PXR-humanized mouse to investigate the influence of oridonin on PXR and downstream metabolism enzyme. Eight-week-old male PXR-humanized mice were treated with oridonin by orally (0, 25, 50, 100, 200 mg/kg) for 15 d. The effects of oridonin on major downstream CYPs of PXR were examined at both the mRNA and enzyme activity levels by RT-PCR and HPLC-MS/MS. In general, there was no significant toxic reaction in liver of PXR-humanized mice. The mRNA expression of CYPs and cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (POR) were increased with oridonin treatment in a dose-dependent manner. CYP2c and CYP3a family catalytic activity were increased significantly in two higher doses groups. These results indicate that oridonin induced the expression and activation of CYP2c and CYP3a family, which might contribute to potential drug-drug interactions and appear to be a risk when co-administered with other clinical drugs.