A Sensitive HPLC-MS/MS Analysis of Dencichine in Rat Plasma and Its Application to Pharmacokinetics

Abstract

In order to quantitate dencichine in biological samples, a selective and sensitive method for the determination of dencichine in rat plasma based on high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was developed and validated. (l)-2-amino-3-(carboxymethylthio)propionic acid was used as the internal standard (I.S.). After a protein precipitation extraction with acetonitrile, dencichine and the I.S. were chromatographed on an Xterra MS-C18 column. The mobile phase was consisted of 20mmol/L ammonium acetate solution-acetonitrile (35:65, V/V) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The detection was performed on a triple quadrupole mass via electrospray ionization (ESI) source in the positive mode. The intra- and inter-day precision (relative standard deviation, R.S.D.) values of dencichine were below 6.7%. The extraction recoveries were up 85%. The lower limit of quantification was 20 ng/ml, which was sensitive enough to detect the analyte. The HPLC-MS/MS method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study after an intravenous administration of dencichine in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat.