An UPLC-MS/MS method for quantification of spiraeoside in mouse blood and its application to a pharmacokinetic and bioavailability study

A simple, rapid, and sensitive method based on UPLC-MS/MS was developed to determine spiraeoside in mouse blood, and was applied to the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of spiraeoside after mice after intravenous (a dose of 5 mg kg−1) and oral (a dose of 20 mg kg−1) administration. On HSS T3 column set at 40 °C, chromatographic separation was obtained with the mobile phase of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid using the gradient elution. Spiraeoside and internal standard (IS) were quantitatively analyzed using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode in electrospray (ESI) positive interface. The MRM mode was monitoring the fragmentation of m/z 465.4→303.1 and m/z 451.3→ 289.2 for spironoside and IS, respectively. The results showed a good linear relationship was in the concentration range of 1–200 ng mL−1 (r > 0.998) and the lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 1.0 ng mL−1. The intra- and the inter-day precision (RSD%) of the method was within 14.0%, and the accuracy ranged from 90.0% to 115.0%. The extraction recovery of spriaeoside was better than 63.0%, and the matrix effects were in the range of 86%–98%. It also showed the half-life was short, and the absolute bioavailability was 4.0% in mice. Therefore, the established UPLC-MS/MS method was suitable for the pharmacokinetic and bioavailability study of spiraeoside in mice.