Simultaneous Determination and Pharmacokinetics Study of Six Triterpenes in Rat Plasma by UHPLC-MS/MS after Oral Administration of Sanguisorba officinalis L. Extract

A selective and sensitive ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of ziyuglycoside I (I), 3β,19α-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic-acid 28-β-d-glucopyranosyl ester (II), 3β-[(α-l-arabinopyranosyl) oxy]-urs-12,18(19)-dien-28-oic acid β-d-glucopyranosyl ester (III), rosamultin (IV), 1β-hydroxyeuscaphic acid (V) and alpinoside (VI) in rats after oral administration of Sanguisorba officinalis L. (S. officinalis) extract. The 3β,19α-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic-acid 28-β-d-glucopyranosyl ester, 3β-[(α-l-arabinopyranosyl) oxy]-urs-12,18(19)-dien-28-oic acid β-d-glucopyranosyl ester, rosamultin, 1β-hydroxyeuscaphic acid and alpinoside in rat plasma were the first report in the pharmacokinetics study in the present study. The analytes were quantified using the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with the electrospray ion source in positive electrospray ionization. Plasma was extracted with ethyl acetate via liquid–liquid extraction. Bifendate was used as internal standard (IS). The current method was validated for linearity, intra-day and inter-day precisions, accuracy, extraction recovery, matrix effect and stability. The lower limits of quantification of ziyuglycoside I, 3β,19α-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic-acid 28-β-d-glucopyranosyl ester, 3β-[(α-l-arabinopyranosyl) oxy]-urs-12,18(19)-dien-28-oic acid β-d-glucopyranosyl ester, rosamultin, 1β-hydroxyeuscaphic acid and alpinoside were 6.1, 4.9, 1.3, 3.8, 1.5 and 5.7 ng/mL, respectively. Intra-day and inter-day precision and the accuracy of the assay were in range from −9.48 to 12.74%. The extraction recoveries of analytes and bifendate (IS) from rat plasma ranged from 77.17% to 92.48%. Six compounds could be rapidly absorbed into blood (T(max), 0.58–1.58 h), and then eliminated relatively slowly (t(1/2), 6.86–11.63 h). The pharmacokinetic results might contribute to further guide the clinical application of S. officinalis.