A simple and sensitive LC–MS/MS method for the determination of loganic acid in rat plasma and its pharmacokinetic analysis

Abstract Loganic acid is an iridoid compound extracted from Gentianaceae plant Gentiana macrophylla Pall. It can effectively inhibit inflammation and tumor migration and has antioxidant activity. In this paper, we establish a simple, fast, sensitive and validated LC–MS method with the purpose of quantification of loganic acid in rat plasma with gliclazide as an internal standard (IS). Methanol was used to precipitate the protein in the plasma sample, and a C 18 column (2.1 × 50 mm, 1.7 μm) was used for the separation of the target compound. Meanwhile, 0.1% formic acid water–methanol was employed as the mobile phase. Multiple reaction monitoring detection mode was adopted in detection with m/z 375.1 > 213.2 for loganic acid and m/z 322.1 > 169.9 for the IS, respectively, in negative ion scan mode. The linear range of calibration curve was 5.77–11,540.00 ng/ml, and the lower limit of detedtion was 2.89 ng/ml. The inter‐day and intra‐day precision and accuracy were <15% for lower limit of quantitation, low, middle and high quality control samples. This method was successfully used for the pharmacokinetic study of loganic acid in rat plasma at a dose range of 50–150 mg/kg for oral administration and 2 mg/kg for intravenous administration. The pharmacokinetic results showed that the oral bioavailability of loganic acid was low (2.71–5.58%).