Biopartitioning micellar chromatography with a monolithic column to screen the membrane permeable components in Rhizoma Chuanxiong extracts

Purpose: Biopartitioning micellar chromatography (BMC) with a monolithic column was applied for the first time in this study to screen and identify membrane permeable compounds in the traditional Chinese medicine Rhizoma Chuanxiong extract. Methods: The mobile phases were composed of polyoxyethylene (23) lauryl ether (Brij35), sodium dihydrogen phosphate with or without sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Nine main retained compounds were observed in the extracts of Rhizoma Chuanxiong by BMC and also further confirmed by an in vitro absorption model using Caco-2 cells. Results: The results showed a good correlation between the uptake percentage of the retained compounds on Caco-2 cells and the retention behavior on BMC. A better correlation was observed for the mobile phase of 0.04 M Brij35 in 0.01 M NaH 2PO 3 (r 2 = 0.90) than the mobile phase of 0.04 M Brij35: SDS (85:15, mol/mol) in 0.01 M NaH 2PO 3 (r 2 = 0.86). In addition, the correlation was better in pH 7.4 mobile phase (r 2 = 0.91) than in pH 5.5 (r 2 = 0.78) and pH 6.5 (r 2 = 0.81) mobile phase. Conclusion: Accordingly, the BMC system with a monolithic column is a potential high-throughput biomembrane permeability screening method, and could increase the success rate of new drugs and make their development more efficient.