Comparative Pharmacokinetics of Berberine, Palmatine and Jatrorrhizine in Rat Plasma after Oral Administration of Rhizoma coptidis and Zuojinwan Using Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A selective and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for the determination of berberine, palmatine and jatrorrhizine in rat plasma. Target compounds, together with the internal standard (metronidazole), were extracted from rat plasma samples by protein precipitation with acetonitrile-methanol (1:2, v/v). Chromatography was carried out using a C18 column (150 × 4.6mm, 5μm) under isocratic elution with water (containing 0.3% formic acid)-acetonitrile (30:70, v/v). The mass spectrometric detection was performed by selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode via electrospray ionization (ESI) source operating in positive ionization mode. The method was linear over the concentration range of 0.2-100 ng/mL for all components. The intra- and inter-day precision values were less than 14.7% and the deviations were within ± 9.0%. The validated method was applied to the comparative pharmacokinetic studies of berberine, palmatine and jatrorrhizine after oral administration of Rhizoma coptidis and Zuojinwan. The results indicated that the pharmacokinetics of berberine, palmatine and jatrorrhizine were significantly different between different groups.