High-throughput quantification of isoflavones, biochanin A and genistein, and their conjugates in female rat plasma using LC-ESI-MS/MS: Application in pharmacokinetic study.

Isoflavones containing foods and dietary supplements are widely consumed for putative health benefits (e.g. cancer chemoprevention, beneficial effects on serum lipids associated with cardiovascular health, reduction of osteoporosis, relief of menopausal symptoms). This paper describes the development and validation of a sensitive high throughput LC-ESI-MS/MS method for quantifying biochanin A (BCA) and genistein (GEN), and their conjugates in rat plasma. The analytes were separated on a Supelco Discovery C18 (4.6×50 mm, 5.0 μm) column under isocratic condition using acetonitrile/methanol (50:50, v/v) and 0.1% acetic acid in the ratio of 90:10 v/v as a mobile phase. The intra- and inter-day assay precision ranged from 2.66 to 8.34% and 4.40 to 8.10% (RSD %), respectively, and intra- and inter-day assay accuracy was between 90.67-109.25% and 95.86-106.32%, respectively, for both the analytes. The lowest quantitation limit for BCA and GEN was 0.5 ng/mL in 0.1 mL of rat plasma. The method was successfully applied to the estimation of BCA, GEN and their conjugates in rat plasma following oral administration of BCA. Circulating conjugates (glucuronides/sulfates) of BCA and GEN were quantified using enzymatic hydrolysis of plasma samples. The levels of isoflavones glucuronides/sulfates were found to be much greater than the corresponding aglycones.