O14 Determination of DQ-798 in rat plasma by UHPLC-MS/MS and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

Abstract

DQ-798 is a more druggable derivative of astragaloside IV prepared by TEMPO-mediated oxidation, which possess significant pharmacological activities. In this study, an ultra-high performance liquid chromatographic method combined with a tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of DQ-798 in rat plasma was developed. After simple protein precipitation with acetonitrile including digoxin (internal standard, IS), the analyte were analyzed by multiple reaction monitoring in positive ESI mode at m/z transitions of [M + Na]+821 → 627 for DQ-798 and 803 → 387 for the IS. The mobile phase is the distilled water and acetonitrile (66:34). The flow rate for the mobile phase was set at 0.35 mL/min. The lower limit of quantification of DQ-798 was obtained as 2 ng/mL. The calibration curve was linear at a range of 2–2000 ng/mL ( R 2 > 0.999 ). The validation parameters investigated, which were specificity, precision, accuracy, matrix effect, recovery, and stability, were well within acceptable limits. This analytical method was successfully applied to monitor the plasma concentrations of DQ-798 following oral administration in rats.