LC–MS Determination and Pharmacokinetic Study of Salidroside in Rat Plasma after Oral Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicinal Preparation Rhodiola crenulata Extract

A simple, rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) method was developed for the quantification of salidroside in rat plasma and the study of its pharmacokinetics after oral administration of 15 g kg−1 Rhodiola crenulata extract to Wistar rats. A 200 μL plasma sample was extracted by acetonitrile and performed on Kromasil C18 column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with the mobile phase of acetonitrile–water (11:89) within a run time of 8 min. The analyte was monitored with electrospray ionization (ESI) by selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The target ions were m/z 299.20 for salidroside and m/z 150.00 for internal standard (IS) paracetamol. A good linear relationship was obtained over the range of 100–20,000 ng mL−1 and the lower limit of quantification was 100 ng mL−1. The validated method was successfully applied for the pharmacokinetic study of salidroside in rat. After oral administration of Rhodiola crenulata extract, the main pharmacokinetic parameters T max, T 1/2, C max, AUC 0−t and AUC 0−∞ were 0.56 ± 0.21 h, 7.91 ± 4.42 h, 3,386 ± 2,138 ng mL−1, 16,146 ± 6,558 ng h mL−1 and 18,599 ± 6,529 ng h mL−1, respectively.