In our previous study, panaxytriol (PXT) was shown to enhance midazolam (MDZ) 1′-hydroxylation significantly but to inhibit MDZ 4-hydroxylation. To explore the underlying mechanism, we investigated the effects of PXT on cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A)-mediated MDZ metabolic pathways using rat liver microsomes (RLM), human liver microsomes (HLM), and rat primary hepatocytes. In the presence of PXT, the V max of 4-OH MDZ decreased from 0.72 to 0.51 nmol/min·mg pro in RLM and from 0.32 to 0.12 nmol/ min·mg pro in HLM, and the K m value increased from 5.12 to 7.26 µM in RLM and from 27.87 to 32.80 µM in HLM. But the presence of PXT reduced the K m and increased the V max values of MDZ 1′-hydroxylation in RLM and HLM. Interestingly, the differential effect of PXT on MDZ 4-hydroxylation and 1′-hydroxylation was also observed in primary rat hepatocytes after 45-min culture. PXT did not affect the expression levels of CYP3A1/2 mRNA in rat hepatocytes. With extension of the culture time to 6 h, however, PXT significantly inhibited both MDZ 4-hydroxylation and 1′-hydroxylation, and the expression level of CYP3A1/2 mRNA was decreased to 87% and 80% (CYP3A1) and to 89% and 85% (CYP3A2) of those in controls in the presence of PXT 4.0 and 8.0 µg/mL, respectively. These results suggest that PXT could activate MDZ 1′-hydroxylation but inhibit MDZ 4-hydroxylation by changing the CYP3A enzyme affinity and metabolic rate after a shortterm intervention. However, long-term treatment with PXT could inhibit both the 4-hydroxylation and 1′-hydroxylation of MDZ by downregulating CYP3A1/2 mRNA expression.Key words panaxytriol; midazolam hydroxylation metabolism; cytochrome P450 3A; differential effect mechanism Cytochrome P450 (CYP450) is a superfamily of hemeproteins that involved in the biotransformation of the majority of clinical drugs. The inhibition or induction effect of clinical drugs on CYP450 is considered as one of the important factors leading to potential drug-drug interactions.1-3) CYP3A4 is one of the primary CYP450 enzymes in human liver and catalyzes the metabolism of more than 50% of clinical drugs including terfenadine, theophylline and astemizole, etc. Midazolam (MDZ) is the specific substrate of CYP3A4 enzyme and is mainly metabolized to 4-hydroxymidazolam (4-OH MDZ) and 1′-hydroxymidazolam (1′-OH MDZ) by combining with the two different sites of CYP3A4 enzyme active center.4,5) Therefore, the formation of the two metabolites are often simultaneously quantified for the assessment of CYP3A4 activity.Traditional Chinese medicine is widely used in clinical practice in China because of the advantages of good curative effect and less adverse reaction. The incidence of Chinese medicine and chemical medicine interactions significantly increased as the widely using of Chinese medicine, and the change of CYP450 enzyme activity is the principal cause resulting in drug metabolic interactions. 6,7) As a well known study, salvia extract exhibited a marked inhibition effect on the expression of CYP3A4 and CYP1A2 mRNA in HepG2, and high...