Determination and pharmacokinetics of amygdalin in rats by LC-MS-MS

A sensitive and specific liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS-MS) method was developed for the determination and pharmacokinetics of amygdalin in rats. Rat plasma pretreated by solid-phase extraction was analyzed by LC-MS-MS with negative electrospray ionization in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. Amygdalin and geniposide [the internal standard (IS)] were separated on a C18 column eluted with a mobile phase of methanol and water (85:15; v/v) at a flow rate of 0.25 mL/min in a run time of 3.0 min. The precursor to product ion transitions were monitored at m/z 457.2 → 279.1 for amygdalin and m/z 387.1 → 224.9 for the IS. The calibration curve of amygdalin showed good linearity over a concentration range of 10-2,000 ng/mL. The limit of quantification was 10 ng/mL. Intra-day and inter-day precisions and accuracy (percent relative standard deviation) were both within 10%. The method was fully validated for its selectivity, sensitivity, matrix effect, recovery and stability. This accurate and specific assay produced a useful LC-MS-MS method, which was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic studies after the oral administration of amygdalin to rats.