Determination of artemisitene in rat plasma by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry and its application in pharmacokinetics.

RATIONALE

Artemisitene shows a wide variety of pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant protection in vitro and in vivo. It has been identified as a novel Nrf2 inducer. However, there is no report on an ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS) method to quantitate artemisitene in rat plasma and its application to a pharmacokinetic profile study.

METHODS

An ACQUITY UPLC™ BEH Symmetry Shield RP18 column (1.7 μm, 2.1 mm × 100 mm) was used at a flow rate of 0.3 mL·min . Mass detection was performed by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry via multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) in positive mode. Plasma samples were pre-treated by a single-step extraction with 0.1% formic acid aqueous solutions-acetonitrile, and tolbutamide was used as internal standard.

RESULTS

The calibration curve was from 0.98 to 1000 ng∙mL (r  = 0.995). The extraction recoveries were 61.5-79.4% and 81.7-94.6% for artemisitene and tolbutamide, respectively. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 0.98 ng∙mL . The absolute bioavailability of artemisitene was 3.7% after intravenous and oral administration in rats.

CONCLUSIONS

The UPLC/MS/MS assay was validated for linearity, accuracy, stability, extraction recovery, matrix effects, and intra-day and inter-day precision. The method, for the first time, achieved some pharmacokinetic parameters and was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.