Quantitative determination of apigenin and its metabolism in rat plasma after intravenous bolus administration by HPLC coupled with tandem mass spectrometry.
Apigenin is a flavone and is being developed for treatment of cardiovascular disease. A sensitive and accurate quantitative detection method using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) for the measurement of apigenin and luteolin levels in rat plasma is described. Analytes were separated on a separation by a Luna C(18) (5 microm, 100 mm x 2.0 mm) column with acetonitrile:methanol:water (35:40:60, v/v/v) as a mobile phase. The eluted compounds were detected by tandem mass spectrometry. Good linearity (R(2)>0.9997) was observed for both analytes over the range of 2.5-5000 ng/mL in 0.1mL of rat plasma. The overall accuracy of this method was 93-105% for apigenin and 95-112% for luteolin in rat plasma. Intra-assay and inter-assay variabilities were less than 11% in plasma. The lowest quantitation limit for both apigenin and luteolin was 2.5 ng/mL in 0.1 mL of rat plasma. Practical utility of this new LC/MS/MS method was demonstrated in a pilot pharmacokinetic study in rats following intravenous administration of apigenin. Metabolism of apigenin to luteolin in vivo was established.
Wan
Lili
L
Department of Pharmacy, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, PR China.
Guo
Cheng
C
Yu
Qi
Q
Li
Yan
Y
Wang
Xiangwei
X
Wang
Xiaolin
X
Chen
Chunlin
C
D000818:Animals; D047310:Apigenin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D047311:Luteolin / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D051381:Rats; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
D047310:Apigenin; D047311:Luteolin