Simultaneous determination of triterpenoid saponins in dog plasma by a validated UPLC-MS/MS and its application to a pharmacokinetic study after administration of total saponin of licorice.

A rapid and sensitive ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for simultaneous determination of eight constituents, uralsaponin C, uralsaponin F, 22β-acetoxyl-glycyrrhizin, 24-hydroxy-licorice-saponin E2, licorice-saponin G2, licorice-saponin E2, glycyrrhizin, and licorice-saponin J2, from total saponin of licorice (TSL) in dog plasma. Ardisiacrispin A was used as the internal standard (IS). The separation was performed on Thermo Syncronic C₁₈ column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) at a flow rate of 0.4 mL min⁻¹, and acetonitrile/methanol (3:1, v/v)-0.1% formic acid was used as mobile phase. The detection was performed on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) via electrospray ionization (ESI) source with negative ionization mode. All calibration curves had good linearity (r>0.991) over the concentration range from 2.03-405 ng mL⁻¹ to 2.63-2625 ng mL⁻¹ for all components. The intra- and inter-day precision was within 15% and the accuracy ranged from -14.08% to 13.8%. The method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic study of eight triterpenoid saponins in dog plasma after oral administration of TSL.