A rapid and simple HPLC method for the determination of curcumin in rat plasma: assay development, validation and application to a pharmacokinetic study of curcumin liposome.

This paper describes a sensitive, specific and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of curcumin in rat plasma. After a simple step of protein precipitation in 96-well format using acetonitrile containing the internal standard (IS), emodin, plasma samples were analyzed by reverse-phase HPLC. Curcumin and the IS emodin were separated on a Diamonsil C(18) analytical column (4.6 x 100 mm, 5 microm) using acetonitrile-5% acetic acid (75:25, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The method was sensitive with a lower limit of quantitation of 1 ng/mL, with good linearity (r(2) >or= 0.999) over the linear range 1-500 ng/mL. All the validation data, such as accuracy and precision, were within the required limits. A run time of 3.0 min for each sample made high-throughput bioanalysis possible. The assay method was successfully applied to the study of the pharmacokinetics of curcumin liposome in rats.