Tissue distribution model and pharmacokinetics of nuciferine based on UPLC-MS/MS and BP-ANN

Nuciferine has shown remarkable biological activities and been considered as a promising drug. In this study, a sensitive and selective ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for determination of nuciferine in tissue and plasma. An electrospray ionization source was applied and operated in positive ion mode; multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode was used for quantification using target fragment ions m/z 296.0→265.1 for nuciferine, and m/z 322.0→307.0 for berberrubine internal standard (IS). Based on the UPLC-MS/MS method, the tissue distribution profile of nuciferine in mice and plasma pharmacokinetics in rat were studied. The results showed nuciferine was absorbed through intestinal tract and distributed into tissues rapidly. The bioavailability of nuciferine was identified at 17.9%. It can across through blood brain barrier, the concentrations in liver and kidney are highest, then followed by spleen, lung heart and brain. Nuciferine is eliminated quickly in the tissues and plasma, the t1/2 within 5 hour. The concentrations in these tissues are correlated to each other, and can be predicted by a back-propagation artificial neural network model.