A UFLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of eight bioactive constituents from red wine and dealcoholized red wine in rat plasma: Application to a comparative pharmacokinetic study.

To explore whether alcohol has an effect on the pharmacokinetic behavior of phenolic acids, the main bioactive constituents in red wine, a highly sensitive and simple ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UFLC-MS/MS) method was developed for simultaneous quantitation of eight phenolic acids in plasma samples. Plasma samples were extracted by liquid-liquid extraction and the chromatographic separation was achieved on a Zorbax SB-C column within 7.0 min. Results of the validated method revealed that all of the calibration curves displayed good linear regression (r > 0.99). The intra- and inter-day precisions of the analytes were <14.0% and accuracies ranged from -8.5 to 7.3%. The extraction recoveries of the analytes were from 71.2 to 110.2% and the matrix effects ranged from 86.2 to 105.5%. The stability of these compounds under various conditions satisfied the requirements of biological sample measurement. The method was successfully applied to a comparative pharmacokinetic study of phenolic acids in rat plasma. For gallic acid and gentisic acid, the parameters AUC and AUC increased remarkably (p < 0.05) after oral administration of red wine, which suggested that alcohol might enhance their absorption. This is the first report to compare the pharmacokinetic behavior of phenolic acids in red wine and dealcoholized red wine.