Investigation of In Vivo and In Vitro Pharmacokinetic Characteristics of Kaji-ichigoside F1 in Rats

Abstract

Kaji-ichigoside F1, a pentacyclic triterpenoid saponin, exhibits various beneficial pharmacological effects. In this study, a simple, rapid, and specific high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for rapid quantification of kaji-ichigoside F1 in rat biological matrix was developed. Plasma was prepared by a single-step protein precipitation followed by separation of the analyte using an Inertsil ODS-3 column with a gradient mobile phase. Positive ion electrospray was used and selected reaction monitoring transitions were m/ z 673.27 → 511.15 for kaji-ichigoside F1 and m/ z 429.19 → 267.29 for morroniside, respectively. The developed method was validated with linear range of 20 to 10 000 ng/mL. All validation parameters were well within the acceptance limit based on the guidance of FDA. The validated method was successfully applied to analyze samples from the in vivo and in vitro pharmacokinetic studies in rats.