Objective: To investigate the dispositions of Mahuang Tang in rodents by the drug cumulative method and pharmacological effect method and to make a comparison. Method: Taking mortality as the index

mice were injected ip with 19.69 g ·kg-1 Mahuang Tang twice at different time points

and the disposition of Mahuang Tang was determined by the drug cumulative method. Taking antipyretic effects as the index

rats with yeast-induced fever were administered 11.2 g ·kg-1 ig of Mahuang Tang

the disposition was determined by the pharmacological effect method. Pharmacokinetic parameters were determined using DAS software version 2.1.1. Result: The drug cumulative method showed a two-compartment model to describe the disposition

the apparent pharmacokinetic parameters were t1/2β=9.36 h

AUC=46.80 g ·kg-1 ·h

CL=0.32 (g ·kg-1)/(h ·g ·kg-1). The pharmacological effect method applied a one-compartment model to describe the disposition

the apparent pharmacokinetic parameters were t1/2=4.15 h

AUC=55.01 g ·kg-1 ·h

CL=0.27(g ·kg-1)/(h ·g ·kg-1). Conclusion: The pharmacokinetic parameters from two methods are quite different. The drug cumulative method results in a longer elimination half-hour than that of the pharmacological effect method. The biological effect method can be applied to investigate the disposition of traditional medical formulae

predicting pharmacokinetic parameters with different values and meaning apart from the classic pharmacokinetic method.