Simultaneous determination of notoginsenoside R1, ginsenoside Rg1, Re, Rb1 and icariin in rat plasma by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

An ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed and validated for identification and quantification of five major bioactive components in rat plasma after oral administration of Qihuotongqiao tablets. The analysis was performed on an Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.8 μm; Waters, USA) utilizing a gradient elution profile and a mobile phase consisting of (A) water containing 0.5 mM ammonium chloride and (B) acetonitrile. Electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem interface was employed prior to mass spectrometric detection. The calibration curve was linear over the range of 4.2–416.0 ng/mL for notoginsenoside R1, 38.4–3840.0 ng/mL for ginsenoside Rg1, 3.7–368.0 ng/mL for ginsenoside Re, 37.6–5640.0 ng/mL ginsenoside Rb1 and 4.5–448.0 ng/mL for icariin, respectively. The average accuracies ranged from 87.2 to 109.3% with RSD ≤ 13.7%. The results indicated that ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS) provided improved chromatographic parameters resulting in significantly increased sample throughput including lower solvent consumption and lower limits of quantitation (LLOQ) for most of target analytes compared to previous method employing conventional high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation. So, the established method was validated, sensitive and reliable for the determination of five major bioactive components in rat plasma.