Abstract: AIM: Due to small amount of medicaments contained in the drop pills of Chinese herbal medicine, the study of drop pills has been restricted, therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the dissolution and human buccal absorption characteristic of borneol and menthol in Qingyan drop pills in vitro. METHODS: The gas chromatograph (GC)method was established for simultaneous determination of borneol and menthol in Qingyan drop pills. The in vitro dissolution experiment of borneol and menthol was investigated with the instrument of drug dissolution, the human buccal absorption characteristic of borneol and menthol was performed in 5 healthy volunteers. The correlation between the cumulative human buccal absorption rate and the in vitro cumulative dissolution rate of borneol and menthol were analyzed. RESULTS: The in vitro dissolution experiment indicated that the maximum cumulative dissolution rates of borneol and menthol were 84.3 %, 79.7 % in 10, 20 min respectively, and the human buccal absorption experiment indicated that the maximum cumulative absorption rates of borneol and menthol were 90.3 %, 94.6 % in 45, 30 min respectively. The correlation between in vivo and in vitro experiment was good, and the correlation coefficients were 0.890, 0.907 respectively. CONCLUSION: A rapid, sensitive, and precise GC method has been established for the simultaneous determination of borneol and menthol in Qingyan drop pills. The results demonstrated that borneol and menthol, the main components of Qingyan drop pills, have the characteristic of rapid dissolution, fast release and absorption, which can meet the clinical demands of drop pills and provide theoretical basis for clinical medication.

Key words: Qingyan drop pills, borneol, menthol, dissolution, buccal absorption, gas chromatograph (GC)