Simultaneous determination and pharmacokinetics studies of five isoflavones in rat plasma by UHPLC-MS/MS after oral administration of Radix Astragali extract

Abstract A rapid, sensitive and convenient method based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was developed validated for the simultaneous quantification of calycosin-7-O-β- d -glucoside (CCSG), ononin, calycosin, (6aR,11aR)-9,10-dimethoxypterocarpan-3-O-β- -glucopyanoside (DPPG), 7,2′-dihydroxy-3′,4′-dimethoxyisoflavan-7-O-β- (DIFG) in rat plasma after oral administration methanol extraction from Radix Astragali . Theophylline played role internal standard (IS). Preparation samples by liquid-liquid with ethyl acetate precipitation protein methanol. The analytes were detected a triple quadrupole spectrometery (MS) multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode positive ion electrospray ionization (ESI). concentration ranges 1.96–62.69 ng/mL CCSG, 1.70–54.5 1.85–59.06 2.14–137.24 DPPG and1.96–125.25 DIFG, respectively. had lower limit (LLOQ) 0.49, 0.21, 0.92, 1.07, 0.98 DIFG respectively, precision less than 10%. RSD accuracy range −4.35–8.91%. results may be helpful to provide more accurate references clinical application this herb.