HPLC determination of ferulic acid in rat plasma after oral administration of Rhizoma Chuanxiong and its compound preparation

An HPLC method is described for determination of ferulic acid in rat plasma. The concentration of ferulic acid in rat plasma was determined after deproteinization with acetonitrile using sulfamethoxazole as internal standard. Chromatographic separations were performed on a C18 stationary phase with a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile–water (16:84, v/v) with 1% glacial acetic acid. The UV detection wavelength was set at 320 nm. The method was successfully applied to the determination of pharmacokinetic parameters in rat plasma after oral administration of Rhizoma Chuanxiong and and its compound preparation Suanzaoren decoctions. The calibration curve was linear over the range 0.0510–4.08 µg/mL in rat plasma. Within-day and between-day precisions were less than 4.5% RSD. Mean recovery was determined as 96.9%. The limit of quantitation was 0.0510 µg/mL. The pharmacokinetic parameters of the two preparations were different significantly (p < 0.05), which may attribute to the effects of other ingredients present in Suanzaoren decoction. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.