Rapid determination of aristolochic acids I and II in herbal products and biological samples by ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
Aristolochic acids (AAs) are a mixture of structural-related compounds, in which aristolochic acid I (AA I) and aristolochic acid II (AA II) are reported to be correlated with Aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN). In this work, a rapid and sensitive ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was developed to determine AA I and AA II in herbal products and biological fluids. By using gradient elution with a mobile phase composed of a mixture of 10mM ammonium formate buffer (pH 3.0) and acetonitrile, AAs could be determined within 10 min. Under optimum UHPLC-MS/MS conditions, the limit of detections was 0.14 and 0.26 ng mL(-1) for AA I and AA II, respectively. Run-to-run repeatability and intermediate precision of peak area for AA I and AA II were less than 5.74% relative standard deviation (RSD). Accuracy was tested by spiking 10, 100 and 1000 ng mL(-1) in rat serum and the recoveries were within 76.5-92.9%. Matrix effects were within 78.8-127.7%. The developed method was successfully applied to determine AA I and AA II in several herbal products and to investigate their pharmacokinetic behavior in female Wister rats. The result shows that the developed UHPLC-MS/MS method is efficient, sensitive, and accurate for the determination of AA I and AA II in herbal products and biological samples.
Kuo
Ching-Hua
CH
School of Pharmacy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. kuoch@ntu.edu.tw
Lee
Chia-Wen
CW
Lin
Shu-Chiao
SC
Tsai
I-Lin
IL
Lee
Shoei-Sheng
SS
Tseng
Y Jane
YJ
Kang
Jaw-Jou
JJ
Peng
Fu-Chuo
FC
Wei-Chu
Li
L
D000818:Animals; D030022:Aristolochia / Q000737:chemistry; D034341:Aristolochic Acids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods
D034341:Aristolochic Acids; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C000228:aristolochic acid I; C042310:aristolochic acid II