The Effect of Panax Ginseng on Carbamazepine Pharmacokinetics in Rabbits

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is a well-known prescribed drug to treat epilepsy and it is trigeminal neuralgia drug of choice. The present study is established for studying the effect of Panax ginseng extract (PGE) on disposition of CYP3A4 substrate Carbamazepine (CBZ) in rabbits. Materials and Methods: An in vivo herb-drug interaction, a randomized, parallel designed study were conducted in 12 male rabbits; that were distributed into two groups. The first group consists of six rabbits (control group) the CBZ suspension (30mg/kg/day) was administrated orally for ten days as a single daily dose while, the second group consists of six rabbits (test group) CBZ was administered concomitantly with a dose of PGE (2.5 mg/kg/day) at the same time schedule as in the first group. Blood under analysis samples were withdrawn from the marginal ear vein of rabbits at the intervals 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 6.0, 12.0 and 24.0 hours. Results: Our results showed statistically insignificant differences (P≥0.05) in pharmacokinetic parameters (PK) as Cmax, tmax, AUC0-24, AUC0-∞, t 1⁄2 and Ke of CBZ when given alone or concurrently with PGE. Conclusion: Our findings showed that, PGE may not likely to interfere the carbamazepine pharmacokinetics when co-administered with carbamazepine, so it can be used safely without precautions or dose monitoring.