Simultaneously determination of five ginsenosides in rabbit plasma using solid-phase extraction and HPLC/MS technique after intravenous administration of ‘SHENMAI’ injection

Abstract

In this study, a sensitive and reliable analytical method for the simultaneous determination of five ginsenosides ( R g1, R f, R e, R d and R b1) in rabbit plasma was developed by high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS). Chromatographic separation was carried out on a Zorbax SB-C 18 Column (150 mm × 2.1 mm i.d., 5.0 μm particle size) with a simple linear gradient elution. The detection was conducted on a single quadrupole mass spectrometer by selected ion monitoring mode via electrospray ionization source. Good linearity over the investigated concentration ranges was observed with the values of R 2 higher than 0.991 for all the analytes. Limits of detection of the analytes varied from 0.25 ng/ml to 1.45 ng/ml, and the average recoveries, examined at three concentration levels, ranged from 90.6% to 106.9%. The validated method was successfully applied to the determination of the ginsenosides in the rabbit plasma after intravenous administration of ‘SHENMAI’ injection.