A sensitive and selective method based on gas chromatography hyphenated to mass spectrometry （GC- MS） was developed and validated for the determination of atractylon in rat plasma. Plasma samples were processed by liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate-n-hexane （1：1, v/v） using acetophenone as an internal standard （IS）. Analytes were determined in selective ion monitoring （SIM） mode using target ions at m/z 108.1 for atractylon and m/z 105.1 for acetophenone. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range of 10-1000 ng/mL with lower limit of quantification of 10 ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day precision variations were not more than 10.4% and 9.6%, respectively, whilst accuracy values ranged from -6.5% to 4.9%. Extraction recovery of the assay was satisfactory. This method was suc- cessfully applied to quantification and pharmacokinetic study of atractylon in rat plasma after in- tragastric administration of Atractvlodis extract.
Han YanYuanyuan SunYuying MaBin JiXiaohong HouZhiguo YuYunli Zhao
Sanqi is a popular traditional Chinese medicine and commonly used for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. Notoginsenoside R1, ginsenoside Rg1, Re, Rb1 and Rd are the major active constituents of Sanqi. The purpose of the study was to investigate the pharmacokinetic behavior of the five active constituents from total saponin from Sanqi when it was used in the blood stasis animals or in combination with Gegen. The concentrations of the five active constituents in rat plasma were determined by an ultra-HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method. The main pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated and statistically analyzed using the unpaired student＆#39;s t-test. It was found that the pharmacokinetic parameters of notoginsenoside R1, ginsenoside Rg1 and Rb1 represented a statistically significant difference （Po0.05） between the normal rats and the blood stasis rats after administration of total saponin from Sanqi （TSFS）. And there were statistically significant differences （Po0.05） in the pharmacokinetic parameters of all the five constituents between administration of TSFS alone and combined with total flavonoid from Gegen （TFFG） in blood stasis rats. It suggested that the pharmacokinetic behavior of the active constituents from TSFS could be changed when it was used in blood stasis animals or in combination with TFFG.
