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Context: Cepharanthine (CPA) has been reported to possess a wide range of pharmacological activities.Objective: This study investigates the pharmacokinetic characteristics after oral or intravenous administration of CPA by using a sensitive and rapid LC–MS/MS method.Materials and methods: A sensitive and rapid LC–MS/MS method was developed for the determination of CPA in Sprague–Dawley rat plasma. Twelve rats were equally randomized into two groups, including the intravenous group (1 mg/kg) and the oral group (10 mg/kg). Blood samples (250 μL) were collected at designated time points and determined using this method. The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated.Results: The calibration curve was linear within the range of 0.1–200 ng/mL (r = 0.999) with the lower limit of quantification at 0.1 ng/mL. After 1 mg/kg intravenous injection, the concentration of CPA reached a maximum of 153.17 ± 16.18 ng/mL and the t1/2 was 6.76 ± 1.21 h. After oral administration of 10 mg/kg of CPA, CPA was not readily absorbed and reached Cmax 46.89 ± 5.25 ng/mL at approximately 2.67 h. The t1/2 was 11.02 ± 1.32 h. The absolute bioavailability of CPA by oral route was 5.65 ± 0.35%, and the bioavailability was poor.Discussion and conclusions: The results indicate that the bioavailability of CPA was poor in rats, and further research should be conducted to investigate the reason for its poor bioavailability and address this problem.

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Background: This study aimed to examine the expression level and prognostic value of microRNA-29a (miR-29a) in human cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Patients and Methods: The expression of miR-29a was measured in tissues collected from 125 CCA patients using quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Survival analysis was carried out using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. The prognostic value of miR-29a was examined with Cox regression analysis. Results: The results of qRT-PCR demonstrated that miR-29a expression was significantly upregulated in CCA tissue samples compared with matched noncancerous samples. Overexpression of miR-29a was found to be correlated with lymph node metastasis, clinical stage, and differentiation of CCA. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves suggested that patients with high miR-29a levels had poor overall survival compared to those with low miR-29a expression. From the results of the Cox regression analysis, we considered increased miR-29a expression to be an independent prognostic factor for patients with CCA. Conclusion: Our study data demonstrated that upregulated miR-29a expression is associated with progression of CCA and might act as a prognostic biomarker in CCA patients.