Background: Yakuchinone A has a plethora of beneficial biological effects. However, the pharmacokinetic (PK) data\r\nof yakuchinone A still remain unknown so far. Furthermore, the quantification of yakuchinone A in biological\r\nsamples has not been reported in the literature. Therefore, in the present study we aimed to develop a new\r\nmethod for the fast, efficient and accurate assessment of yakuchinone A concentration in plasma, as a means for\r\nfacilitating the PK evaluation of yakuchinone A.\r\nResults: A liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) method was\r\ndeveloped and validated for the determination of yakuchinone A in rat plasma. Mass spectrometric and chromatographic\r\nconditions were optimized. Plasma samples were pretreated by protein precipitation with methanol. LC separation\r\nwas performed on a Phenomenex Luna C18 column with gradient elution using a mobile phase consisting of\r\nmethanolââ?¬â??water containing 0.5 mM formic acid (HCOOH) at a flow rate of 0.28 mL/min. ESI-MS spectra were\r\nacquired in positive ion multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM). The precursor-to-product ion pairs used for\r\nMRM of yakuchinone A and yakuchinone B were m/z 313.1?137.0 and 311.2?117.1, respectively. Low concentration\r\nof HCOOH reduced the ion suppression caused by matrix components and clearly improved the analytical sensitivity.\r\nYakuchinone A showed good linearity over a wide concentration range (r > 0.99). The accuracy, precision, stability and\r\nlinearity were found to be within the acceptable criteria. This new method was successfully applied to analyze the rat\r\nplasma concentration of parent yakuchinone A after a single oral administration of SuoQuan capsules. Low systemic\r\nexposure to parent yakuchinone A was observed.\r\nConclusion: The proposed method is sensitive and reliable. It is hoped that this newmethod will prove useful for the\r\nfuture PK studies.
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