title: Development and Validation of HPLC Method for Determination of Crocetin, a constituent of Saffron, in Human Serum Samples.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study reports the development and validation of a sensitive and rapid extraction method beside high performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of crocetin in human serum.
  
  
  METHODS
  The HPLC method was carried out by using a C18 reversed-phase column and a mobile phase composed of methanol/water/acetic acid (85:14.5:0.5 v/v/v) at the flow rate of 0.8 ml/min. The UV detector was set at 423 nm and 13-cis retinoic acid was used as the internal standard. Serum samples were pretreated with solid-phase extraction using Bond Elut C18 (200mg) cartridges or with direct precipitation using acetonitrile.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The calibration curves were linear over the range of 0.05-1.25 µg/ml for direct precipitation method and 0.5-5 µg/ml for solid-phase extraction. The mean recoveries of crocetin over a concentration range of 0.05-5 µg/ml serum for direct precipitation method and 0.5-5 µg/ml for solid-phase extraction were above 70 % and 60 %, respectively. The intraday coefficients of variation were 0.37- 2.6% for direct precipitation method and 0.64 - 5.43% for solid-phase extraction. The inter day coefficients of variation were 1.69 - 6.03% for direct precipitation method and 5.13-12.74% for solid-phase extraction, respectively. The lower limit of quantiﬁcation for crocetin was 0.05 µg/ml for direct precipitation method and 0.5 µg/ml for solid-phase extraction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The validated direct precipitation method for HPLC satisﬁed all of the criteria that were necessary for a bioanalytical method and could reliably quantitate crocetin in human serum for future clinical pharmacokinetic study.
authors: Pharmaceutical Research Center, Department of Pharmacodynamics and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors: Amir Hooshang
authors: AH
authors: Mohammadpour
authors: Mohammad
authors: M
authors: Ramezani
authors: Nasim
authors: N
authors: Tavakoli Anaraki
authors: Bizhan
authors: B
authors: Malaekeh-Nikouei
authors: Sara
authors: S
authors: Amel Farzad
authors: Hossein
authors: H
authors: Hosseinzadeh
keywords: Crocetin; Crocus sativus; Direct precipitation; High performance liquid chromatography; Human serum samples; Saffron; Solid phase extraction
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