A rapid and sensitive UFLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of gentiopicroside and swertiamarin in rat plasma and its application in pharmacokinetics.

Radix Gentianae is a traditional Chinese medicine derived from medicinal plants of the family Gentianaceae. Its pharmacological effects have been primarily attributed to the presence of a number of secoiridoid glycosides, in particular gentiopicroside and swertiamarin. In this study, a rapid and sensitive method based on ultrafast liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry has been developed for the simultaneous determination of gentiopicroside and swertiamarin in rat plasma using paeoniflorin as internal standard (IS). After liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate-isopropanol (95 : 5, v/v), separation was achieved on a Shim-pack XR-ODS C18 column (75 mm × 3.0 mm, 2.2 μm) with a mobile phase consisting of methanol : 0.1% formic acid (30 : 70, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.4 ml/min. Detection on an API 3200 QTRAP mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization source operated in the negative ionization mode was performed by multiple reaction monitoring of the precursor-to-product ion transitions of gentiopicroside, swertiamarin and IS at m/z 401.0 → 179.0, 419.0 → 179.1 and 525.1 → 121.0 respectively. The calibration curves were linear over the concentration range of 20-10 000 and 2-1000 ng/ml for gentiopicroside and swertiamarin with corresponding lower limits of quantification of 20 and 2 ng/ml. The limits of detection were 4 and 0.5 ng/ml for gentiopicroside and swertiamarin, respectively. The intraday and interday precisions were below 11.9% for gentiopicroside and below 9.5% for swertiamarin in terms of relative standard deviation, and the accuracy was within ±8.3% for gentiopicroside and within ±10.2% for swertiamarin in terms of relative error. Extraction recovery, matrix effect and stability were satisfactory in rat plasma. The method was fully validated and applied to a pharmacokinetic study involving oral administration of a Radix Gentianae extract to groups of male and female rats. Results showed that in female rats, both compounds were absorbed to a greater extent and eliminated more slowly than in male rats, although the rate of absorption was similar in the two groups. There were remarkable differences in pharmacokinetic properties of gentiopicroside and swertiamarin between male and female rats. The results will provide helpful information for the development of suitable dosage forms and clinical references on rational administration.

Feng B ，Zhu H ，Guan J ，Zhao L ，Gu J ，Yin L ，Fawcett JP ，Liu W ... -  《-》

Development and validation of a LC-ESI-MS/MS method for the determination of swertiamarin in rat plasma and its application in pharmacokinetics.

A new LC-ESI-MS/MS assay method has been developed and validated for the quantification of swertiamarin, a representative bioactive substance of Swertia plants, in rat plasma using gentiopicroside, an analog of swertiamarin on chemical structure and chromatographic action, as the internal standard (IS). The swertiamarin and IS were extracted from rat plasma using solid-phase extraction (SPE) as the sample clean-up procedure, and they were chromatographed on a narrow internal diameter column (Agilent ZORBAX ECLIPSE XDB-C(18) 100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.8 μm) with the mobile phase consisting of methanol and water containing 0.1% acetic acid (25:75, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The detection was performed on an Agilent G6410B tandem mass spectrometer by negative ion electrospray ionisation in multiple-reaction monitoring mode while monitoring the transitions of m/z 433 [M+CH(3)COO](-)→179 and m/z 415 [M+CH(3)COO](-)→179 for swertiamarin and IS, respectively. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 5 ng/mL within a linear range of 5-1000 ng/mL (n=7, r(2)≥0.994), and the limit of detection (LOD) was demonstrated as 1.25 ng/mL (S/N≥3). The method also afforded satisfactory results in terms of sensitivity, specificity, precision (intra- and inter-day), accuracy, recovery, freeze/thaw, long-time stability and dilution integrity. This method was successfully applied to determination of the pharmacokinetic properties of swertiamarin in rats after oral administration at a dose of 20 mg/kg. The following pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained (mean): maximum plasma concentration, 1920.1 ng/mL; time to reach maximum plasma concentration, 0.945 h; elimination half-time, 1.10h; apparent total clearance, 5.638 L/h/kg; and apparent volume of distribution, 9.637 L/kg.

Li HL ，Peng XJ ，He JC ，Feng EF ，Xu GL ，Rao GX ... -  《-》

Simultaneous determination of two iridoid glycosides, two anthraquinones and four flavonoid glycosides of Zhi-Zi-Da-Huang decoction in rat plasma by UFLC-MS/MS: application to a comparative pharmacokinetic study in normal and cholestatic liver injury rats

A selective, sensitive and reliable ultra fast liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UFLC-MS/MS) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of two iridoid glycosides (geniposide and genipin gentiobioside), two anthraquinones (rhein and emodin) and four flavonoid glycosides (isonaringin, naringin, hesperidin and neohesperidin), the major active ingredients of Zhi-Zi-Da-Huang decoction (ZZDHD), in rat plasma using paeoniflorin as internal standard (IS). After liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate-isopropanol (1:1, v/v), separation was achieved on a Shim-pack XR-ODS C18 column (75 mm×3.0 mm, 2.2 μm) using gradient elution with a mobile phase consisting of water (containing 0.1% formic acid) and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. Detection was performed on 4000 QTRAP mass spectrometry equipped with turbo ion spray source in the negative ionization and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The intra- and inter-day precisions (as relative standard deviation) were less than 11.4%, and accuracy (as relative error) was within ± 10.0%. The lower limits of quantification (LLOQ) were 4.0, 0.5, 2.0, 0.1, 1.0, 2.0, 1.0, 2.0 ng/mL for geniposide, genipin gentiobioside, rhein, emodin, isonaringin, naringin, hesperidin and neohesperidin, respectively. The extraction recoveries of the analytes and IS from rat plasma were all more than 86.0%. The method was fully validated and applied to compare the pharmacokinetic profiles of the analytes in normal and cholestatic liver injury (CLI) rats after oral administration of ZZDHD. Results showed that there were remarkable differences in pharmacokinetic properties of the analytes between normal and CLI group.

Zhu H ，Bi K ，Han F ，Guan J ，Tang Z ，Chen K ，Zhao L ，Li Q ，Yin R ，Hou X ... -  《-》

Determination of the plasma pharmacokinetic and tissue distributions of swertiamarin in rats by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

An LC-MS/MS method was developed for the quantification of swertiamarin (CAS 17388-39-5) in rat plasma and tissues using gentiopicroside as the internal standard (IS). Swertiamarin and an IS were extracted from plasma and tissues by a simple solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure. Separation was achieved on a Phenomenex kinetex-C18 column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 2.6 µm) with an isocratic mobile phase consisting of methanol and water (22:78, v/v) with 0.1% acetic acid at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The analyte and IS were detected by negative ion electrospray ionisation in multiple-reaction monitoring mode while monitoring the transitions of m/z 433 [M + CH3COO] - →179 and m/z 415 [M + CH3COO] - →179 for swertiamarin and the IS, respectively. The method was validated with respect to selectivity, matrix effect, linearity, accuracy, precision, recovery and stability. The method was successfully applied in a pharmacokinetic study of swertiamarin after intravenous and oral administration to rats. The pharmacokinetics of swertiamarin showed rapid absorption and elimination, and its absolute bioavailability was low at 10.3%. After oral administration to rats, swertiamarin was rapidly and widely distributed in its tissues. High concentrations were found in the liver and kidney, indicating that swertiamarin was possibly absorbed in the liver and eliminated by the kidney.

Li HL ，He JC ，Bai M ，Song QY ，Feng EF ，Rao GX ，Xu GL ... -  《arzneimittel-forschung-drug research》

Simultaneous determination of scutellarin and tetrahydropalmatine of Deng-yan granule in rat plasma by UFLC-MS/MS and its application to a pharmacokinetic study.

Deng-yan granule, consisting of Herba Erigerontis Breviscapi, Rhizoma Corydalis Yanhusuo and Radix Astragali Mongolici, is a widely used Traditional Chinese Medicine preparation for treatment of coronary heart disease. Scutellarin and tetrahydropalmatine are main active constituents in Herba Erigerontis Breviscapi and Rhizoma Corydalis Yanhusuo, and have been used as marker components for quality control of Deng-yan preparations. In order to make good and rational use of Deng-yan granule in the future, a rapid, sensitive and high throughput ultra-fast liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UFLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of scutellarin and tetrahydropalmatine in rat plasma using rutin as internal standard (IS). The plasma samples were extracted by liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate after acidification and separated on a Shim-pack XR-ODS C18 column (75mm×3.0mm, 2.2μm) with a mobile phase consisting of methanol-0.1% formic acid water (50:50, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.4mL/min. Mass spectrometric detection was conducted on an API 3200 QTRAP mass spectrometry equipped with electrospray ionization source in positive ionization mode. Quantification was performed using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) by monitoring the fragmentation of m/z 463.2→287.1 for scutellarin, m/z 356.1→192.1 for tetrahydropalmatine and m/z 611.2→303.2 for IS, respectively. The linear range was 10-5000ng/mL for both scutellarin and tetrahydropalmatine with lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) of 10ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day precisions were below 12.2% for scutellarin and below 9.7% for tetrahydropalmatine in terms of relative standard deviation (RSD), and the accuracy was within ±9.1% for scutellarin and within ±11.2% for tetrahydropalmatine in terms of relative error (RE). Extraction recovery, matrix effect and stability were satisfactory in rat plasma. The validated method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of scutellarin and tetrahydropalmatine after oral administration of Deng-yan granule to rats.

Zhang X ，Guan J ，Zhu H ，Niu T ... -  《-》