Simultaneous quantification of paeoniflorin, nobiletin, tangeretin, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, liquiritin and formononetin from Si‐Ni‐San extract in rat plasma and tissues by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

In this study, a sensitive and reliable liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of seven bioactive components including paeoniflorin, nobiletin, tangeretin, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, liquiritin and formononetin in rat plasma and tissues after oral administration of Si-Ni-San extract using astragaloside IV as internal standard (IS). The plasma and tissue samples were extracted by solid-phase extraction. Chromatographic separation was accomplished on a C18 column with a multiple-step gradient elution. The quantification was obtained by scanning with multiple reaction monitoring via an electrospray ionization source that was operated by switching between the positive and negative modes in two MS/MS scan segments. Full validation of the assay was implemented. In conclusion, this method demonstrated good linearity and specificity. The lower limits of quantification for the analytes were <7.5 ng/mL. Intra- and inter-day precisions (RSD) were <12.5% and accuracy (RE) ranged from -10.2 to 7.3%. The average recoveries of the analytes from rat plasma and tissues were >65.2% and 58.6%, respectively. The validated method was further applied to the determination of actual rat plasma and tissues after oral administration of Si-Ni-San extract. The results provided a meaningful basis for the clinical application of this prescription.

Stereospecific pharmacokinetic characterization of liquiritigenin in the rat

“…The bioavailability reported by Kang, et al . was 3-7% after oral doses of 20-50 mg/kg which is lower than the bioavailability reported herein (181921252627). This discrepancy in bioavailability likely results from differences in formulation, fasting state, and vendor supplier of rats and source materials.…”

“…The achiral pharmacokinetics of liquiritigenin, and its corresponding glycosides have been reported in the literature (17). Differences in the disposition of an individual enantiomer may result in significant differences in their health benefits or toxic effects in humans (18192021222324252627). The chiral pharmacokinetics of liquiritigenin have only been preliminarily evaluated by our laboratory and one other group.…”

Flavonoids and Auxin Transport Inhibitors Rescue Symbiotic Nodulation in the Medicago truncatula Cytokinin Perception Mutant cre1

“…Flavonoid standards were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (kaempferol, naringenin, quercetin, morin, and hesperetin), Indofine Chemical Company (isoliquiritigenin, liquiritigenin, formononetin, daidzein, and biochanin A), Fluka (apigenin), and ICN Biomedicals (genistein). For identification and relative quantification (peak area ratio of the endogenous analyte/internal standard) of flavonoid compounds where standards were not available to us (medicarpin and chrysoeriole), the mass spectra of flavonoid compounds detected in samples were compared with the mass bank database (Horai et al, 2010) and the literature (Guo et al, 2008;Li et al, 2013).…”

Simultaneous determination of nine bioactive compounds in Yijin-tang via high-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

“…Several analytical methods for these compounds have been developed for qualitative and quantitative analyses using high-performance liquid chromatography-diode-array detector (HPLC-DAD) and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. However, these methods cannot simultaneously determine the multiple bioactive components in YJ.…”