A new quantitation method of protodioscin by HPLC–ESI-MS/MS in rat plasma and its application to the pharmacokinetic study

Abstract

A specific high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS method) was established for determining the concentration of protodioscin (PG) in rat plasma after intragastric administration of its standard form. Ginsenoside Rb1 was selected as the internal standard (IS). The plasma sample was prepared using one-step deproteinization procedure by adding three parts of acetonitrile to precipitate proteins. The chromatographic separation was accomplished on an Inersil ODS-3 C18 column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with a mobile phase composed with acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% formic acid under a gradient elution mode at a flow rate of 1 mL min−1. A 3:1 portion of the eluent after a microsplit was detected on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer coupled with electrospray ionization (ESI) in positive ion and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) scanning modes. The mass transitions were selected as 888.1 → 1050.2 for PG and 948.2 → 1110.3 for IS, respectively. After careful validation, the plasma samples were always stable under different storage conditions. These analytical results rendered sensitive, selective, and reliable values by this established method which displayed high accuracy, adequate extracted recoveries, and almost negligible matrix effects. This method was applied to the pharmacokinetic studies on PG level in the rat plasma and its pharmacokinetic effect. The results of our studies suggest that the present method may be a useful tool for further clinical study of PG.

A Comprehensive Review of the Phytochemical, Pharmacological, and Toxicological Properties of Tribulus terrestris L.

“…Studies regarding the pharmacokinetic characteristics of protodioscin have contradictory results. For example, a recent study published by Zhang et al [52] concluded that protodioscin had low bioavailability in vivo. However, the same group of authors has shown that after the administration of an extract from Dioscorea, the pharmacokinetic profile of protodioscin revealed good bioavailability [53].…”

Safety investigation on total steroid saponins extracts from Dioscorea zingiberensis C.H. Wright: Sub-acute and chronic toxicity studies on dogs

“…Steroid saponins were a type of intensively polar compounds led by the constituent sugar groups and they except for their metabolites could pass through the membrane. However, this ability was weak and trace of them was determined in blood, therefore, our previous reports have demonstrated that they displayed a low bioavailability after oral administration of TSSN from D. zingiberensis [13, 31, 32]. We hypothesized another possibility that the concentration of steroid saponins in blood, tissue and organs couldn’t reach threshold values to cause the claimed toxic responses due to their low bioavailability pharmacokinetic features indicating the lack of toxicity of TSSN.…”

Pharmacokinetic and Metabolism Studies of 12-Riboside-Pseudoginsengenin DQ by UPLC-MS/MS and UPLC-QTOF-MSE

“…The main parameters were as follows: capillary voltage: 3000 V; source temperature: 150 °C; desolvation temperature: 300 °C; desolvation gas flow: 800 L/h; cone gas flow: 150 L/h; nebulizer gas flow: 7 bar; collision gas flow: 0.15 mL/min; cone voltage: 35 V and 28 V for RPDQ and IS, respectively; collision energy: 10 eV and 6 eV for RPDQ and IS, respectively. Masslynx V4.1 workstation (Waters, Milford, MA, USA) was used for data acquisition and processing [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”