An ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was established to determine hirsutine and hirsuteine in rat plasma. Pharmacokinetics of hirsutine and hirsuteine in rats after intravenous or oral administration has been investigated using this developed UPLC-MS/MS method, and bioavailability of the two drugs was calculated. Diazepam was used as internal standard, and UPLC BEH column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 μm) was used at temperature of 40°C. The mobile phase was composed of acetonitrile and water (containing 0.1% formic acid) at a gradient elution flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. Nitrogen was used as desolvation gas (800 L/h) and conical gas (50 L/h). The multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) model was applied to quantitatively analyze hirsutine m/z 369 → 226, hirsuteine m/z 367 → 169.9, and diazepam (internal standard) m/z 285.1 → 193.3. Rat plasma samples were deproteinized using acetonitrile prior to UPLC-MS/MS analysis. Within the concentration range of 1-200 ng/mL, the linearity of hirsutine and hirsuteine in plasma was good (r > 0.995), and the lower limit of quantitation was 1 ng/mL. Relative standard deviations of intra-day precision for hirsutine and hirsuteine were ≤6.1% and ≤5.9%, respectively, and those of inter-day precision were ≤6% and ≤7.7%. Accuracy for hirsutine and hirsuteine ranged between 92.3% and 104.8%. Bioavailability of hirsutine and hirsuteine was 4.4% and 8.2%, respectively. The method is sensitive and fast with good selectivity and was successfully applied in the pharmacokinetic studies after intravenous and oral administration of hirsutine and hirsuteine.

Vinblastine and vincristine, both of which are bisindole alkaloids derived from vindoline and catharanthine, have been used for cancer chemotherapy; their monomeric precursor molecules are vindoline and catharanthine. A simple and selective liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method for simultaneous determination of vindoline and catharanthine in rat plasma was developed. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a C18 (2.1 × 50 mm, 3.5 µm) column with acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid in water as mobile phase with gradient elution. The flow rate was set at 0.4 mL/min. An electrospray ionization source was applied and operated in positive ion mode; selective ion monitoring mode was used for quantification. Mean recoveries were in the range of 87.3-92.6% for vindoline in rat plasma and 88.5-96.5% for catharanthine. Matrix effects for vindoline and catharanthine were measured to be between 95.3 and 104.7%. Coefficients of variation of intra-day and inter-day precision were both <15%. The accuracy of the method ranged from 93.8 to 108.1%. The method was successfully applied in a pharmacokinetic study of vindoline and catharanthine in rats. The bioavailability of vindoline and catharanthine were 5.4 and 4.7%, respectively.

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A sensitive and selective liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method was developed for the determination of rhynchophylline in rat plasma. After the addition of estazolam as the internal standard (IS), protein precipitation by acetonitrile was used for sample preparation. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a Zorbax SB-C18 column (2.1 × 150 mm, 5 µm) with acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid as the mobile phase with gradient elution. The electrospray ionization source was applied and operated in positive ion mode; selective ion monitoring mode was used for quantification by using target fragment ions m/z 385 for rhynchophylline and m/z 295 for the IS. Calibration plots were linear over the range of 5-500 ng/mL for rhynchophylline in plasma. The lower limit of quantification for rhynchophylline was 5 ng/mL. The mean recovery of rhynchophylline from plasma was in the range of 87.7-92.6%. The coefficients of variation of intra-day and inter-day precision were both less than 11%. This method is sensitive and selective enough to be used in pharmacokinetic research for the determination of rhynchophylline in rat plasma.

1. Acetylcorynoline is the major alkaloid component derived from Corydalis bungeana herbs. A sensitive and selective liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method for determination of acetylcorynoline in rat plasma was developed over the range of 5-1000 ng/mL to characterize the pharmacokinetic properties. 2. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a C18 (2.1 mm× 150 mm, 5 μm) column with acetonitrile 0.1% formic acid in water as mobile phase with gradient elution. The flow rate was set at 0.4 mL/min. After addition of carbamazepine as internal standard (IS), protein precipitation by acetonitrile-methanol (9:1, v/v) was used as sample preparation. An electrospray ionization source was applied and operated in positive ion mode; selective ion monitoring mode was used for quantification using target ions m/z 410 for acetylcorynoline and m/z 237 for the IS. 3. Mean recoveries of acetylcorynoline in rat plasma were in the range of 72.3-87.6%. Matrix effects for acetylcorynoline were measured to be between 88.7% and 93.5%. Coefficient of variation of intra-day and inter-day precision were both <13%. The accuracy of the method ranged from 95.8% to 112.1%. The analyte was stable under auto-sampler, room temperature, freeze-thaw and long-term (20 days), the bias in concentration was within ±15% of their nominal values. 4. The LC-MS method for the determination of acetylcorynoline in rat plasma utilizing 100 µL of plasma with an LLOQ of 5.0 ng/mL developed and validated, it was sensitive, selective and simple. This method was successfully applied in pharmacokinetic study of acetylcorynoline after intravenous administration of single dosage 3 mg/kg in rats.