Determination of Paeoniflorin in Rat Plasma by Ultra-high Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry and its Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study

: In this study, a rapid and highly sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was established for the quantification of paeoniflorin in rat plasma. The analyte and the internal standard (IS), hyperoside, were extracted from rat plasma via liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate. LC separation was carried on a Phenomenex Luna C18 column within 2.5 min. Quantitation was performed on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer employing electrospray ionization and operated in the multiple reaction monitoring and negative ion modes. The precursor to product ion transitions monitored for paeoniflorin and the IS were m/z 524.8→449.0 and 463.1→300.0, respectively. The assay was validated with a linear range of 0.02~25.6 μg/mL for paeoniflorin. The intra- and inter-day precisions (relative standard deviation%) were within 9.7%, and the recoveries were greater than 65.2%. Paeoniflorin was proven to be stable during all sample storage, preparation and analytical procedures. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of the Baixiangdan Capsule in eight female rats.