Simultaneous quantification of catechin, epicatechin, liquiritin, isoliquiritin, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, piperine and glycyrrhetinic acid in rat plasma by HPLC‐MS/MS: application to a pharmacokinetic study of Longhu Rendan pills

Abstract

A sensitive, specific, accurate HPLC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of catechin, epicatechin, liquiritin, isoliquiritin, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, piperine and glycyrrhetinic acid from Longhu Rendan pills in rat plasma. Chromatographic separation was performed with a Hypersil Gold C18 column using a gradient of methanol and 0.01% acetic acid containing 0.2 mm ammonium acetate as mobile phase. The analytes were quantified on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, operating in selected reaction monitoring mode and switching the electrospray ion source polarity between positive and negative modes in a single run. The calibration curves of catechin, epicatechin, liquiritin, isoliquiritin, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, piperine and glycyrrhetinic acid were linear over the concentration ranges of 5-2000, 5-2000, 0.5-200, 0.5-200, 0.25-100, 0.25-100, 0.025-10 and 0.50-200 ng mL(-1) , respectively. The intra- and inter-assay precisions and accuracies were <11.6 and 91.9-108.2%, respectively, for all analytes. Matrix effects for all analytes were between 88.2 and 114.2%. Stability testing showed that all analytes were stable in plasma at 24 °C for 3 h, at 4 °C for 24 h, after three freeze-thaw cycles, and at -80 °C for 15 days. The method was successfully applied to an in vivo study evaluating the pharmacokinetics of multiple nonvolatile compounds following intragastric administration of Longhu Rendan pills to rats. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.