Evaluation of Pharmacokinetic Profile of Cirpusins®, Extract of Cyperus rotundus in Presence of Bioavailability Enhancer, BioPerine®

Obesity, a condition accompanying abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in the body has become a major public health concern globally. Various herbs hailed from traditional systems of medicine like Ayurveda have gained importance in recent years to combat obesity. One such herb Cyperus rotundus (nutgrass), is known for its beneficial effects in obesity, in Ayurveda. Cirpusins® a patented extract from the dried rhizomes of Cyperus rotundus (standardized for minimum of 6% total identified stilbenes - Piceatannol, Scirpusin A & Scirpusin B) and BioPerine®, a bioavailability enhancer, obtained from the dried fruits of Piper nigrum (standardized to minimum 95% piperine). In this study, we examined the pharmacokinetic profile and bioavailability of Cirpusins® in Sprague-Dawley rats at two different doses (45 and 90 mg/kg) in the presence and absence of BioPerine® respectively. The results signifies that addition of BioPerine® (0.45 mg/kg) with Cirpusins® (45 mg/kg) enhances the bioavailability by reducing the effective dose of Cirpusins® (90 mg/kg) to half.