Determination of salvianolic acid C in rat plasma using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and its application to pharmacokinetic study

A sensitive and reliable LC-ESI-MS method for the determination of salvianolic acid C in rat plasma has been developed and validated. Plasma samples were prepared by liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate and separated on a Zorbax SB-C-18 column (3.5 mu m, 2.1x100mm) at a flow rate of 0.3mL/min using acetonitrile-water as mobile phase. The detection was carried out by a single quadrupole mass spectrometer with electrospray ionization source and selected ion monitoring mode. Linearity was obtained for salvianolic acid C ranging from 5 to 1000ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day precisions (RSD, %) didn't exceed 9.96%, and the accuracy (RE, %) were all within +/- 3.64%. The average recoveries of the analyte and internal standard were >89.13%. Salvianolic acid C was proved to be stable during all sample storage, preparation and analytic procedures. The validated method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic study after oral and intravenous administration of salvianolic acid C to rats. The absolute oral bioavailability of salvianolic acid C was 0.29 +/- 0.05%. This method was further applied to simultaneous determination of salvianolic acid A, salvianolic acid B and salvianolic acid C in rat plasma and showed good practicability. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.