A Rapid and Sensitive UPLC-MS/MS Method for Quantification of Bruceantinol in Rat Plasma and Its Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study

Bruceantinol (BOL), a quassinoid compound isolated from the fruits of Brucea javanica , has been reported to have cytotoxic and antibacterial effects. In this study, a rapid, sensitive, and specific ultra-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the quantitative determination of BOL in rat plasma. The samples were treated by simple liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate and separated on an UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 mm × 50 mm) using a 3-min gradient elution scheme, which consists of water (0.1% v/v, formic acid) and methanol (0.1%, v/v, formic acid) to achieve the separation of BOL and sinomenine (IS) with high selectivity. The electrospray ionization source was used in positive ion mode; the multiple reaction monitoring quantified the target fragment ions m/z 629.6 → 569.5 for BOL and m/z 330.5 → 207.3 for IS. This work was evaluated with regards to the specificity, extraction recovery, matrix effect, linearity, accuracy, precision, stability, and dilution integrity. This approach was used to examine the pharmacokinetics of BOL in rats after oral (0.3 mg/kg) and intravenous (0.15 mg/kg) administration. BOL presented fast excretion and very low oral bioavailability.