Simultaneous determination of tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone in rat plasma by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry: application to a pharmacokinetic study of a standardized fraction of Salvia miltiorrhiza, PF2401‐SF

Abstract

A rapid, sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous determination of tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone, the active components of Salvia miltiorrhiza in rat plasma, was developed. After liquid-liquid extraction with tariquidar as an internal standard, tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone were eluted from an Atlantis dC18 column within 5 min with a mixture of methanol and ammonium formate (10 mm, pH 6.5; 85:15, v/v). The analytes were detected by an electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry in the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The standard curves were linear (r=0.999) over the concentration range of 0.25-80 ng/mL for tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone in rat plasma. The coefficients of variation and the relative errors of tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone for intra- and inter-assay at four quality control (QC) concentrations were 1.1-5.1% and -4.0-6.0%, respectively. The lower limit of quantification for tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone was 0.25 ng/mL from 100 microL of plasma. This method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone after oral administration of PF2401-SF, the standardized fraction of Salvia miltiorrhiza enriched with tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone to male Sprague-Dawley rats.

Effects of Salvia miltiorrhiza on CNS Neuronal Injury and Degeneration: A Plausible Complementary Role of Tanshinones and Depsides

“…For DTSI, the values were 3.23 ± 1.40 ng/mL, 0.79 ± 0.19 h, 10.2 ± 3.90 ng · h/mL, and 1.69 ± 0.29 h, respectively. The C max , t max , AUC, and t 1/2 of TSIIA were 2.78 ± 0.96 ng/mL, 0.54 ± 0.25 h, 4.53 ± 0.77 ng · h/mL, and 2.07 ± 0.57 h, respectively, while for CTS, they were 0.66 ± 0.27 ng/mL, 0.42 ± 0.20 h, 1.09 ± 0.40 ng · h/mL, and 1.13 ± 0.38 h, respectively [82]. All these studies focused on an improvement of the solubility and dissolution rate of tanshinones.…”

Simultaneous determination of danshensu, rosmarinic acid, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone IIA, tanshinone I and dihydrotanshinone I by liquid chromatographic–mass spectrometry and the application to pharmacokinetics in rats

“…The in vivo simultaneous quantification analysis of these two kinds of active components from the roots of SMB has become more and more important due to the increasingly extensive application of danshen preparations in worldwide. The in vitro and in vivo quantitative methods of HPLC equipped with UV or MS in detecting either the water-soluble phenolic acids or the lipophilic tanshinone components have been reported [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], However, until now, there are very few reports on the in vivo simultaneous detection of the two active components with HPLC-UV methods and the quantitative analyses of these components are very limited [17,18]. Due to the significant differences on the chemical structures and the pharmacological activities between the two groups of the active components, it is very necessary to develop a more efficient method for in vivo simultaneous detection of the two groups of the active components which are as the main active biomarkers in TCM compound preparations containing danshen extracts.…”

Pharmacokinetic comparison of five tanshinones in normal and arthritic rats after oral administration of Huo Luo Xiao Ling Dan or its single herb extract by UPLC‐MS/MS

“…To our knowledge, several analytical methods have been reported for the quantitative determination of some tanshinone components in vivo by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) (Liu et al, 2010;Park et al, 2008;Li et al, 2005). However, little work has been engaged in pharmacokinetics of tanshione components in pathological state.…”