Determination of Asiaticoside in Rat Plasma by LC–MS–MS and Its Application to Pharmacokinetics Studies

A rapid and sensitive LC–MS–MS method was developed and validated for the determination of asiaticoside in rat plasma. Asiaticoside was extracted by protein precipitation with acetonitrile, and separated on a C18 column. The total analytical time was relatively short (4 min), and the limit of quantification was 38 ng mL−1 using 100 μL of rat plasma. Asiaticoside and the internal standard (felodipine) were monitored in the multi-reaction-monitoring mode as follows: m/z 957.4 → 469.3 and m/z 382.2 → 145.1, respectively. Calibration was linear over a concentration range from 38 to 7,600 ng mL−1, and the correlation coefficient was greater than 0.998. The recoveries of asiaticoside from plasma were better than 85%, and RSDs of inter-day and intra-day assays were below 10.1%. The method is sensitive and specific, and suitable for pharmacokinetic studies of asiaticoside in rats.