Pharmacokinetics of palmatine in rat after oral and intravenous administration by UPLC-MS/MS

Palmatine is a compound with good water solubility extracted from Coptis chinensis, Fibraurea recisa Pierre, Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis. Palmatine has good antibacterial activity and mainly used for the treatment of bacterial dysentery, gynecological inflammation, surgical infection, and conjunctivitis. It has anti-diabetic, anti-oxidant, and cognitive-enhancing activities. In this study, we used UPLC-MS/MS to determinate palmatine in rat plasma, and investigated its pharmacokinetics. Coptisine was utilized as an internal standard (IS), and acetonitrile precipitation method was used to process the plasma samples. Chromatographic separation was achieved using a UPLC BEH C18 column using mobile phase of acetonitrile- 0.1% formic acid with gradient elution. Electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with positive ionization was applied. The results indicated that within the range of 1-500 ng/mL, linearity of palmatine in rat plasma was acceptable (r > 0.995), and the lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 1 ng/mL. Intra-day and inter-day precision RSD of palmatine in rat plasma were less than 14%. Accuracy range was between 93.7 and 107.1%, and matrix effect was between 101.6 and 109.4%. The method was successfully applied in the pharmacokinetics of palmatine in rats after oral and intravenous administration. The absolute bioavailability of the palmatine was 15.5% in rats.