An HPLC method for the determination and pharmacokinetic study of lehmannine in rat plasma.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for determining lehmannine (LMN) in rat plasma was developed for application in the pharmacokinetics study. The plasma was deproteinized with acetonitrile that contained an internal standard and was separated from the aqueous layer by adding sodium chloride. The HPLC assay was carried out using a VP-ODS column at 40 degrees C. The mobile phase was acetonitrile-0.02 mol/L ammonium acetate buffer-triethylamine (35:65:0.04, v/v/v). The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min. The detection wavelength was set at 220 nm. The method was used to determine the concentration-time profiles of LMN in the plasma following oral administration or bolus injection of LMN aqueous solution. The pharmacokinetic parameters of LMN were calculated for the first time by Drug and Statistics 1.0 program.