An ultraperformance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was established to simultaneously determine 14 compounds of Angelicae pubescentis Radix (APR) in normal and arthritis rat plasma in which chloramphenicol and daidzein were used as the internal standards. After protein precipitation with acetonitrile, separation was carried out on a Thermo Hypersil GOLD C18 column using gradient elution with 0.1% formic acid aqueous and acetonitrile consisting as the mobile phase at a flowing rate of 0.3 mL/min. A Thermo TSQ QUANTIS triple quadrupole mass spectrometer was used to detect 14 compounds in positive/negative ion exchange mode and this study was the first to investigate the pharmacokinetic changes of the active compounds in rats under the pathological state of arthritis. The method was verified and the results showed that the intra- and interday precision, accuracy, matrix effect, and extraction recovery were all acceptable, and the analytes were stable under different storage conditions. In addition, the pharmacokinetic behaviors of the 14 compounds were significantly different in model rats compared with normal rats. This indicated that the pharmacokinetic behavior of drugs will vary with the pathological state of the body, which suggested that individualized and reasonable drug administration plans should be formulated for different pathological states in clinical practice. This study provided a scientific basis and data support for better understanding the pharmacodynamic substance basis and clinical application of APR against arthritis.
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