A rapid, accurate and sensitive atomic absorption spectrophotometry was established for the determination of zinc in plasma after oral administration of licorzin to healthy volunteers. The plasma sample diluted with de-ionized water (1:1) was determined directly. A 5% glycerol solution was used as the solvent of zinc standard solution. The recovery of the proposed method was 97.3 +/- 4.3%. The precisions (CV%) of within-day and day-to-day were less than 5%. The pharmacokinetics of zinc in healthy volunteers after oral administration of 2.5 g licorzin was studied. The results showed that an one-compartment model (Ka = K) was found in 10 healthy volunteers. The pharmacokinetic parameters were as follows: Ka = K = 0.380h-1, Tmax = 2.7h, V = 33.03 L, T1/2 = 1.9h.