LC-MS/MS Determination of Apigenin in Rat Plasma and Application to Pharmacokinetic Study

Background: Apigenin, a natural plant flavone, has been shown to possess a variety of biological properties. Objective: In this report, a highly selective and sensitive LC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the determination of apigenin in rat plasma. Methods: Analysts were separated on the HSS T3 column (1.8 mu m 2.1x 100 mm) using acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid in 2mM ammonium acetate buffer at a supply rate of 0.200 mL/min as eluent in gradient model. Results: Plasma samples were treated by protein precipitation using acetonitrile for the recovery ranging from 86.5% to 90.1% for apigenin. The calibration curves followed linearity in the concentration range of 0.50-500ng/mL. The inter-day and intra-day precisions at different QC levels within 13.1% and the accuracies ranged from -10.6% to 8.6%. Conclusion: The assay has been successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of apigenin in rats.