Development and validation of an LC-MS/MS method for detection of glycyrol in rat plasma and its application to a...

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis) is one of the most popular edible and medicinal plants and is widely used in Asia. Glycyrol (GC) is a major coumarin present in licorice that exhibits various biological activities. We aimed to develop a highly sensitive and rapid liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry method for the quantitative determination analysis of GC in rat plasma. GC showed linear calibration ranges of 1-100 and 50-2,000 ng/ml with correlation coefficients >0.99. The average extraction recovery ranged from 113.26 to 114.84%, and the relative standard deviation of internal standard normalized matrix factors ranged from 6.36 to 9.46%. The intra-day and inter-day precisions of GC were <15%, and the accuracy ranged from 95.31 to 112.72%. Pharmacokinetic studies showed that GC was distributed in the body with a volume of distribution of 9.06 L/kg, and the initial plasma concentration was 3275.11 ng/ml. The area under the plasma concentration vs. time curve was 479.25 ng h/ml. It was rapidly eliminated with a terminal elimination half-life of 1.47 h and a clearance rate of 4.24 L/h/kg. The pharmacokinetic results can help us to better understand the pharmacological effects of GC in the body.