LC-MS/MS method for determination of kansuinine a in rat plasma and its application to a rat pharmacokinetic study

Kansuinine A is a macrocyclic jatrophane diterpene isolated from the plant Euphorbia kansui Liou. It exhibits many pharmacological activities including cytoxic, antitumor, antiallergic and proinflammatory effects. In the present study, a simple and sensitive LC-MS/MS method was established and validated for the determination of kansuinine A in rat plasma. After methanol-mediated protein precipitation, chromatographic separation was achieved on an Acquity BEH C₁₈ column (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.7 μm) using acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid in water as mobile phase by gradient elution. Kansuinine A and IS were quantified in negative multiple reaction monitoring mode with ion transitions at m/z 731.1-693.2 for kansuinine A and m/z 723.2-623.1 for IS. The method showed excellent linearity over the range 1-500 ng/ml. The intra- and inter-day precisions (relative standard deviation) were 2.13-4.28 and 3.83-7.67%, respectively, whereas accuracy (relative error) ranged from -4.17 to 3.73%. The extraction recovery, stability and matrix effect met the requirement of the regulations issued by the US Food and Drug Administration. The validated method was successfully applied to the pre-clinical pharmacokinetic study of kansuinine A in rats after oral administration (20 mg/kg) and intravenous administration (2 mg/kg). This study provides valuable reference for the further study of E. kansui liou, especially for the drug development and clinical application of kansuinine A.