Simultaneous determination of gastrodin and its metabolite by HPLC

A rapid and specific HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of gastrodin and its metabolite gastrodigenin (p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol) in rat plasma, bile, liver, urine and faeces is described. The separation was achieved by using a reversed phase column (YWG-C18) eluted with methanol-water (2.5:97.5 v/v). Phloroglucinolum was used as internal standard and the peaks were detected at UV 221 nm. The protein precipitation with ethanol was a very simple and rapid method for sample preparation. The gastrodin and gastrodigenin were quantitated by measuring the peak-height ratios. There was a linear concentration range of 10-320 micrograms/mL in the assay for both compounds. The coefficients of variation (within-day) for samples spiked with gastrodin and gastrodigenin were 2.94% and 3.08%, respectively. The method demonstrated a high specificity and was suitable for use in pharmacokinetic studies.