title: Simple determination of huperzine A in human plasma by liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric method.
abstract: Huperzine A is a potent, reversible acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. In the present work, a rapid and sensitive LC-MS-MS method for the determination of huperzine A in human plasma using codeine phosphate as internal standard has been developed and validated. The analyte and internal standard were extracted from plasma using ethyl acetate, chromatographed on a C(18) column (5 microm, 150 x 4.6 mm i.d.) with a mobile phase consisting of 1% formic acid-methanol (40:60, v/v), and detected using a tandem mass spectrometer with a TurboIonSpray ionization interface. The run time was only 2 min. Good linearity was achieved in the range 0.126 -25.2 ng/mL and the limit of detection in plasma was 0.064 ng/mL. The average recovery for huperzine A was 83.4% from plasma. The analytical sensitivity and accuracy of this assay is adequate for characterization of huperzine A in human plasma.
authors.affiliation: West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, 610041, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yun-Xia
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xue-Hua
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D006801:Humans; D032501:Huperzia; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D015394:Molecular Structure; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C050426:huperzine A