Effects of sodium ferulate for injection on anticoagulation of warfarin in rats in vivo

Background Herb-drug interactions may result in increased adverse drug reactions or diminished drug efficacy, especially for drugs with a narrow therapeutic index such as warfarin. The current study investigates the effects of sodium ferulate for injection (SFI) on anticoagulation of warfarin from aspects of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics in rats and predicts the risk of the combination use. Methods Rats were randomly divided into different groups and administered single- or multiple-dose of warfarin (0.2 mg/kg) with or without SFI of low dose (8.93 mg/kg) or high dose (26.79 mg/kg). Prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) were detected by a blood coagulation analyzer, and international normalized ratio (INR) values were calculated. UPLC-MS/MS was conducted to measure concentrations of warfarin enantiomers and pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by DAS2.0 software. Results The single-dose study demonstrated that SFI alone had no effect on coagulation indices, but significantly decreased PT and INR values of warfarin when the two drugs were co-administered ( P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), while APTT values unaffected ( P > 0.05). C max and AUC of R/S-warfarin decreased but CL increased significantly in presence of SFI ( P < 0.01). The multiple-dose study showed that PT, APTT, INR, and concentrations of R/S-warfarin decreased significantly when SFI was co-administered with warfarin ( P < 0.01). Warfarin plasma protein binding rate was not significantly changed by SFI ( P > 0.05). Conclusions The present study implied that SFI could accelerate warfarin metabolism and weaken its anticoagulation intensity in rats.