Simultaneous determination of glycyrrhizin, a marker component in radix Glycyrrhizae, and its major metabolite glycyrrhetic acid in human plasma by LC–MS/MS

Glycyrrhizin (GLY) which has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicinal preparation possesses various pharmacological effects. In order to investigate the pharmacokinetic behavior of GLY in human after oral administration of GLY or licorice root, a liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of GLY and its major metabolite glycyrrhetic acid (GA) in human plasma. The method involved a solid phase extraction of GLY, GA, and α-hederin, the internal standard (IS), from plasma with Waters Oasis MCX solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridges (30 mg) and a detection using a Micromass Quattro LC liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry system with electrospray ionization source in positive ion mode. Separation of the analytes was achieved within 5 min on a SepaxHP CN analytical column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile:water (50:50, v:v) containing 0.1% formic acid and 5 mM ammonium acetate. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) was utilized for the detection monitoring 823 → 453 for GLY, 471 → 177 for GA and 752 → 456 for IS. The LC–MS/MS method was validated for specificity, sensitivity, accuracy, precision, and calibration function. The assay had a calibration range from 10 to 10,000 ng/mL and a lower limit of quantification of 10 ng/mL for both GLY and GA when 0.2 mL plasma was used for extraction. The percent coefficient of variation for accuracy and precision (inter-run and intra-run) for this method was less than 11.0% with a %Nominal ranging from 87.6 to 106.4% for GLY and 93.7 to 107.8% for GA. Stability of the analytes over sample processing (freeze/thaw, bench-top and long-term storage) and in the extracted samples was also tested and established.