Study on Pharmacokinetics of Liguzinediol and Four Metabolites in Rats by UFLC–MS/MS

Abstract

A rapid and sensitive UFLC–MS/MS method was developed for the simultaneous determination of liguzinediol and its four primary metabolites (M1, M2, M3, and M4) in rat plasma using antipyrine as internal standards. The analytes were separated on an XR-ODS column (50 mm × 2.0 mm, 2.2 μm) using 0.1 % formic acid–methanol gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.5 mL·min⁻¹. The detection was performed on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer in a multiple reaction monitoring mode with positive electrospray ionization. Method validation was performed as per the Food and Drug Administration guidelines. The resulting calibration curves offered satisfactory linearity (r > 0.9993) with the set ranges. The limits of quantification for liguzinediol, M1, M2, M3, and M4 were 20, 20, 21, 27, and 10 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. The recovery rates in different matrices ranged from 91.2 to 114.1 %, and the inter-day and intra-day precisions were all less than 13.4 % for the target analytes. After validation, this method was successfully applied to further study pharmacokinetics profiles of liguzinediol and its metabolites after intravenous administration of 10 mg·kg⁻¹ in male and female rats.