Determination and Pharmacokinetic Study of Dauricine in Rat Plasma by UPLC-MS/MS

Dauricine is the major bioactive component isolated from the roots of Menispermum dauricum D.C., a bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid derivative, and has shown multiple pharmacological properties. In this work, a sensitive and selective ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for determination of dauricine in rat plasma and its application to pharmacokinetic study of dauricine after intravenous and oral administration in rats. After addition of daurisoline as an internal standard (IS), protein precipitation by acetonitrile was used to prepare samples. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 mm x 50 mm, 1.7 mu m) with 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile as the mobile phase with gradient elution. An electrospray ionization source was applied and operated in positive ion mode; multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode was used for quantification. Calibration plots were linear throughout the range 2-600 ng mL(-1) for dauricine in rat plasma. Relative standard deviation (RSD) of intra-day and inter-day precision was less than 13%. The accuracy of the method was between 95.8% and 105.9%. Matrix effect of dauricine in rat plasma ranged from 88.0% to 90.3%. Mean recoveries of dauricine in rat plasma ranged from 91.5% to 95.1%. The method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic study of dauricine after intravenous and oral administration in rats. The bioavailability of dauricine was found to be 55.4% for the first time.