Pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of Aucubin, Ajugol and Catalpol in rats using a validated simultaneous LC-ESI-MS/MS assay.
To enable an investigation of pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of Aucubin, Ajugol and Catalpol in rats, a high-performance liquid chromatography-electro spray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) method was developed for the simultaneous quantitative determination of the three compounds. Biological samples were prepared by a simple protein precipitation with methanol (containing 0.05% formic acid). The analytes were separated by a C18 reversed phase column and detected with a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer in the multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode to monitor the precursor-to-product ion transitions of m/z 364.3→149.0 for Aucubin, m/z 366.5→151.1 for Ajugol, m/z 380.0→183.3 for Catalpol and m/z 530.3→183.1 for Picroside-II (IS) in positive ionization. Good linearity of each calibration curve was produced over the concentration range of 1-1000ng/mL. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 1ng/mL for the three analytes. This method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution studies of Aucubin, Ajugol and Catalpol in rat. The current results revealed pharmacokinetic behaviors of the herb compound and provided novel evidence of the presence of Aucubin and Catalpol in rat brain. The acquired data would be helpful for the clinical application and further studies of Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM) with active ingredients of Iridoid Glycosides.
School of Pharmacy, Zheng Zhou University, Zheng Zhou 450000, People's Republic of China.
Bingyang
B
Xue
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China.
Bo
B
Ma
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: nancyzhang03@hotmail.com.
Qi
Q
Zhang
School of Pharmacy, Zheng Zhou University, Zheng Zhou 450000, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: Lixt@zzu.edu.cn.
Xiaotian
X
Li
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China.
Jianwei
J
Zhu
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China.
Ming
M
Liu
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China.
Xiujuan
X
Wu
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China.
Chao
C
Wang
School of Pharmacy, FMHS, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
Zimei
Z
Wu
D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D057888:Iridoid Glucosides / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D057889:Iridoid Glycosides / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008297:Male; D011714:Pyrans / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D057888:Iridoid Glucosides; D057889:Iridoid Glycosides; D011714:Pyrans; C078040:catalpol; C006650:aucubin; C033250:harpagide
Ajugol; Aucubin; Catalpol; HPLC–ESI-MS/MS; Pharmacokinetics; Tissue distribution