GC–MS method for determination and pharmacokinetic study of four phenylpropanoids in rat plasma after oral administration of the essential oil of Acorus tatarinowii Schott rhizomes

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevanceAcorus tatarinowii Schott (AT), belong to the family Araceae, is perennial herbaceous plant mainly present in China, Japan and India. The rhizomes of AT have been used as a famous traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of central nervous system related diseases. Aim of the studyA selective, accurate and sensitive method using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC–MS) for the simultaneous determination and pharmacokinetic study of β-asarone, α-asarone, elemicin and cis-methyl isoeugenol in rat plasma was developed and validated. Materials and methodsThe GC–MS system was operated under selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The samples were prepared by protein precipitation with acetonitrile after being spiked with an internal standard (1-naphthol). The GC separation was achieved on a DB-1701 column (60m × 0.25mm ID, and 0.25µm film thickness). ResultsThe current GC/MS assay was validated for linearity, intra-day and inter-day precisions, accuracy, extraction recovery and stability. The analyte calibration curves were linear over a wide concentration range and the lowest limit of quantifications (LLOQ) were 5.53ng/mL (β-asarone), 6.50ng/mL (α-asarone), 3.10ng/mL (elemicin) and 7.60ng/mL (cis-methyl isoeugenol). After oral administration 0.9g /Kg of AT rhizomes, the maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) was 2508.6±498.7ng/mL for β-asarone, 257.5±37.1ng/mL for α -asarone, 345.5±33.4ng/mL for elemicin and 452.7±59.1ng/mL for cis-methyl isoeugenol, respectively. The time to reach the maximum plasma concentration (Tmax) was 1.42±0.18h for β-asarone, 1.58±0.19h for α -asarone, 1.67±0.24h for elemicin and 1.75±0.38h for cis-methyl isoeugenol, respectively. ConclusionThis paper described a simple, sensitive and validated GC–MS method for simultaneous determination of four phenylpropanoids in rat plasma after oral administration of the essential oil of AT rhizomes and investigated on their pharmacokinetics studies as well.