Fast determination of paeonol in plasma by headspace solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

• Published in: Analytica chimica acta 2007-02, Vol.585 (1), p.76-80
• Main Authors: Dong, Ling, Deng, Chunhui, Wang, Jiyao, Shen, Xizhong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetophenones - analysis; Acetophenones - blood; Acetophenones - pharmacokinetics; Analytical chemistry; Animals; Calibration; Chemistry; Chemistry Techniques, Analytical - instrumentation; Chemistry Techniques, Analytical - methods; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical - methods; Chromatographic methods and physical methods associated with chromatography; Cynanchum - metabolism; Cynanchum paniculatum; Exact sciences and technology; Gas chromatographic methods; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - instrumentation; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - methods; Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Medicine, Chinese Traditional - methods; Models, Chemical; Paeonol; Plasma; Rabbits; Reproducibility of Results; Solid-phase microextraction; Spectrometric and optical methods; Temperature; Traditional Chinese medicine
• ISSN: 0003-2670; 1873-4324
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2006.12.024

Paeonol is the active component in the traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), such as Cynanchum paniculatum, which has been used to treat many diseases, such as eczema. In this work, a simple, rapid and sensitive method was developed for the determination of paeonol in rabbit plasma, which was based on headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The extraction parameters of fiber coating, sample temperature, extraction time, stirring rate and ion strength were systemically optimized; the method linearity, detection limit and precision were also investigated. It was shown that the proposed method provided a good linearity (0.02–20 μg mL −1, R 2 > 0.990), low detection limit (2.0 ng mL −1) and good precision (R.S.D. value less than 8%). Finally, GC/MS following HS-SPME was applied to fast determination of paeonol in rabbit plasma at different time point after oral demonstration of Cynanchum paniculatum essential oil. The experimental results suggest that the proposed method provided an alternative and novel approach to the pharmacokinetics study of paeonol in the TCMs.