Abstract: AIM: To study the bioequivalence of piracetam tablets in Chinese healthy volunteers.METHODS: Twenty volunteers were randomly divided into two groups (test and reference), with double cross-over design and single-dose oral administration.The concentration of piracetam in serum was determined by HPLC.The main pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated and the bioequivalencewas evaluated with DAS2.0 practical pharmacokinetics program.RESULTS: The pharmacokinetic parameters of piracetam tablets were as follows:t_1/2 were 5.50 ±1.48 and 4.29 ±1.00 h , C_max were 21.47 ±6.27 and 20.96 ±5.10 mg·L^-1 , T_max were 0.70 ±0.46 and 0.66 ±0.36 h , AUC_0-24h were 93.44 ±16.61 and 96.67 ±18.50 mg·h·L^-1.The relative bioavailability of the test preparation was 99.8%±22.7%.CONCLUSION: The test and reference preparations were bioequivalent and may be prescribed interchangeably.

Key words: piracetam, pharmacokinetics, bioequivalence, HPLC