A new high-performance liquid chromatography assay for the determination of sesquiterpene lactone 15-deoxygoyazensolide in rat plasma Original Research Article

A simple, rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed for the analysis of the sesquiterpene lactone 15-deoxygoyazensolide (LAC15-D) in rat plasma samples. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a LiChrospher® RP18 column using methanol:water (50:50, v/v) containing 0.6% acetic acid as mobile phase, at a flow rate of 0.7 mL min−1. UV detection was carried out at 270 nm. Phenytoin was used as internal standard. Prior to the analysis, the rat plasma samples were submitted to liquid–liquid extraction with dichloromethane. The mean absolute recoveries were 73% with R.S.D. values lower than 3.5. The method was linear over the 6.0–2000 ng mL−1 concentration range and the quantification limit was 6.0 ng mL−1. Within-day and between-day assay precision and accuracy were studied at three concentration levels (15, 300 and 480 ng mL−1) and were lower than 15%. The validated method was used to measure the plasmatic concentration of LAC15-D in rats that received a single intraperitoneal dose of 30 mg kg−1.