Objective: To investigate in vitro percutaneous permeability of five drug components in Guanxin paste gel ointments. Method: Improved Franz cell was used for transdermal penetration test with physiological saline solution as absorption solution and SD rat skin as experimental skin.The cumulative release amount and cumulative osmotic amount of danshensu

ferulic acid

ligustrazine hydrochloride

cryptotanshinone and tanshinoneⅡA were measured by HPLC in order to evaluate their percutaneous permeability

chromatographic conditions were as follows:Kromasil C18 column(4.6 mm×250 mm

5 μm)

detection wavelength 280 nm

flow rate 1.0 mL·min-1

mobile phase of methanol-0.5% aqueous acetic acid with binary linear gradient elution

column temperature at room temperature

injection volume 10 μL. Result: The cumulative release quantity and cumulative osmotic amount of these five components in Guanxin paste gel ointments were in order of ferulic acid > danshensu > ligustrazine hydrochloride > cryptotanshinone > tanshinone ⅡA.The percentage of cumulative relative permeability via skin of five components within 24 h were 73.09

82.62

82.89

37.22

24.80

respectively.The cumulative release and cumulative percutaneous permeability of these five components conformed to Higuchi equation with correlation coefficient of 0.999 9. Conclusion: Five components in Guanxin paste gel ointments including danshensu

ferulic acid

ligustrazine hydrochloride

cryptotanshinone and tanshinone ⅡA had good drug release properties and percutaneous permeability.