A sensitive and simple HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of berberine and lysergol in rat plasma. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a C(18) column using isocratic elution with methanol-acetonitrile-0.1% ortho-phosphoric acid (25:20:55, v/v/v), pH adjusted to 6.5 with triethylamine and detected at a UV wavelength of 230 nm. The extraction of the berberine and lysergol from the rat plasma with methylene chloride resulted in their high recoveries (82.62 and 90.17%). HPLC calibration curves for both berberine and lysergol based on the extracts from the rat plasma were linear over a broad concentration range of 50-1000 ng/mL. The limit of quantification was 50 ng/mL. Intra- and inter-day precisions were <15% and accuracy was 87.12-92.55% for berberine and 87.01-92.26% for lysergol. Stability studies showed that berberine and lysergol were stable in rat plasma for short- and long-term period for sample preparation and analysis. The described method was successfully applied to study the pharmacokinetics of berberine as well as lysergol following oral administration in Sprague-Dawley rats. The results of the study inferred that lysergol improved the oral bioavailability of berberine.

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Seeds of Ipomoea muricata, well known in Ayurveda for its purgative action, contains mainly indole alkaloids. Lysergol (major alkaloid) exhibits hypotensive, psychotropic, and uterus and intestine-stimulating properties. TLC fingerprint profile of I. muricata seeds was developed using chloroform : methanol (95 : 5 v/v) as the mobile phase. Plate was visualized under UV 254 nm and UV 366 nm and after derivatization with Van Urk reagent. Lysergol resolved at . Further, TLC-densitometric method was developed and validated for quantification of Lysergol avoiding derivatization step. Ethyl acetate :  methanol (7 : 3 v/v) was used as the mobile phase. Linear regression analysis data for the calibration curve showed a good linear relationship () in the concentration range from 20 ng to 140 ng, with respect to the peak area. The developed method was precise with RSD for intraday (range from 1.20 to 1.89) and interday (range from 1.39 to 1.92) for 60, 80, and 100 ng/spot of Lysergol. The instrumental precision was 0.67 (% RSD). The limit of detection and limit of quantification for Lysergol were 12 ng and 40 ng, respectively. The average percentage recovery was 99.68. The amount of Lysergol was found to be 0.23% w/w. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report for the quantification of Lysergol from I. muricata seeds without derivatization.