Validated LC-MS/MS assay for the quantitative determination of clematichinenoside AR in rat plasma and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

This study aimed to develop and validate a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for measuring clematichinenoside AR in rat plasma. Clematichinenoside AR was extracted by solid-phase extraction and chromatographed on an XTerra MS C8 column. Pulchinenoside B4 was used as the internal standard. Elution was achieved using an isocratic mobile phase of acetonitrile with 0.1% acetic acid (21:79, v/v) at a flow-rate of 0.2?mL/min. The detection was performed by multiple reaction monitoring mode via a negative electrospray ionization interface. Standard curves were linear, ranging from 2.5 to 500?ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day precision values were <14.0% and the accuracy was within +/- 13%. Extraction recovery ranged from 93.2 to 93.9%. This proposed method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study on clematichinenoside AR in rats after oral administration. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.