Development of an UPLC-MS/MS Assay to Determine Psoralidin in Rat Plasma and its Application in a Pharmacokinetic Study after Intragastric Administration

Psoralidin has a variety of pharmacological activities, such as anti-tumor, anti-depressant, and anti-inflammatory activities. This study aims at developing a rapid ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method to detennine psoralidin in rat plasma and studying the pharmacokinetic characteristic of psoralidin after intragastric administration of 20 and 40 mg/kg. Alpinetin was used as an internal standard (IS), and the plasma samples were precipitated with acetonitrile. The calibration curves were linear over the range of 0.2-250 ng/mL (R-2 = 0.993). The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by DAS 3.0. Half-life (t(1/2)) was 7.2 +/- 0.97 h and 7.1 +/- 0.27 h for different dosages, respectively. T was 4.2 +/- 1.1 h and 4.0 +/- 1.1 h for different dosages, respectively. Apparent volume of distribution (V-d) for different dosages was 630.1 +/- 168.8 and 600.1 +/- 138.8 L/kg, respectively. Clearance (CL) was 105.6 +/- 29.2 and 100.6 +/- 22.2 L/h/kg for different dosages, indicating that psoralidin was mainly distributed in rat tissues. The pharmacokinetic study provided important information for further clinical application in the treatment of cancer and osteoporosis.