Nine absorbed components pharmacokinetic of raw and processed Moutan Cortex in normal and blood‐heat and hemorrhage syndrome model rats

Abstract Raw Moutan Cortex (RMC) and Processed Moutan Cortex (PMC) have a long history of use in China and other Asian countries. In this study, a rapid and accurate ultra‐high‐pressure liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector (UHPLC–DAD) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of nine absorbed compounds of RMC/PMC. After extraction by protein precipitation with methanol from plasma, the analytes were separated on an Acquity UPLC® BEH Shield RP18 column (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.7 μm, Waters, USA). Acetonitrile (A) and 0.1% (v/v) formic acid in water (B) were selected as the mobile phase to perform gradient elution. The linearity of nine analytes was >0.9915. The intra‐ and inter‐assay precision (RSD) values were within 11.18%, and accuracy ranged from 91.32 to 101.29%. Suitable stability, matrix effect and extraction recoveries were also obtained. The validated method was applied to compare the pharmacokinetics of RMC and PMC in Blood‐Heat and Hemorrhage Syndrome Model and normal rats. The results revealed that processing and the pathological state could influence the pharmacokinetic characteristics of compounds in RMC/PMC. The study willbe useful for further studies on pharmacokinetics and clinical application of raw and processed Moutan Cortex.