Effect of Citrus suavissima Hort. ex Tanaka on pharmacokinetics of erlotinib in rat plasma by UPLC-MS/MS

Abstract

AbstractTwelve Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups: Citrus suavissima Hort. ex Tanaka group and control group (n = 6). The rats in Citrus suavissima Hort. ex Tanaka group were given Citrus suavissima Hort. ex Tanaka juices (1 mL/100 g) by oral administration each day, continued for 14 days; the rats in control group were given Stroke-physiological saline solution (1 mL/100 g) by oral administration each day, continued for 14 days. The rats of these two groups were given a single oral administration of erlotinib (20 mg/kg) on the 15th day. After blood sampling at different time points and processing, the concentrations of erlotinib in rat plasma were determined by the established ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method. Chromatographic separation was achieved using a UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 μm) with erlotinib-d6 as an internal standard (IS). The initial mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile and water (containing 0.1% formic acid) with gradient elution. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) modes were utilized to conduct quantitative analysis. The sensitive, rapid and selective UPLC-MS/MS method was successfully applied to analyse the effect of Citrus suavissima Hort. ex Tanaka on pharmacokinetics of erlotinib in rat plasma. There were no significant differences in AUC(0−t), t1/2, Tmax, CL, Cmax between the two groups (P > 0.05). While MRT(0−t) was decreased (P < 0.05) in Citrus suavissima Hort. ex Tanaka group, compared to the control group. It showed that Citrus suavissima Hort. ex Tanaka could not affect the metabolism of erlotinib.