Development and validation of a UPLC‐MS/MS method for the determination of 7‐hydroxymitragynine,a μ‐opioid agonist,in rat plasma and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

A simple, sensitive and specific ultra‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐MS/MS) method was developed and validated to determine the concentrations of 7‐hydroxymitragynine in rat plasma. Following a single‐step liquid–liquid extraction of plasma samples using chloroform, 7‐hydroxymitragynine and the internal standard (tryptoline) were separated on an Acquity UPLC^TM BEH C₁₈ (1.7 µm, 2.1 × 50 mm) column using an isocratic elution at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The mobile phase consisted of 0.1% acetic acid in water and 0.1% acetic acid in acetonitrile (10:90, v/v). The run time was 2.5 min. The analysis was carried out under the multiple reaction‐monitoring mode using positive electrospray ionization. Protonated ions [M + H]⁺ and their respective product ions were monitored at the following transitions: 415 → 190 for 7‐hydroxymitragynine and 173 → 144 for the internal standard. The calibration curve was linear over the range of 10–4000 ng/mL (r² = 0.999) with a lower limit of quantification of 10 ng/mL. The extraction recoveries ranged from 62.0 to 67.3% at concentrations of 20, 600 and 3200 ng/mL). Intra‐ and inter‐day assay precisions (relative standard deviation) were <15% and the accuracy was within 96.5–104.0%. This validated method was successfully applied to quantify 7‐hydroxymitragynine in rat plasma following intravenous administration. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anti-Fibrotic and Anti-Angiogenic Activities of Osbeckia octandra Leaf Extracts in Thioacetamide-Induced Experimental Liver Cirrhosis

Chronic liver inflammation has become a major global health concern. In the absence of clinical surrogate markers to diagnose inflammatory liver disease, the intervention with effective drugs in modern medicine tends to be late. In Sri Lanka, traditional medical practitioners prescribe herbal preparations from Osbeckia octandra for the prevention and treatment of liver disorders. To test the efficacy of such treatments, we have administered thioacetamide (TAA) to male Wistar rats to induce chronic liver damage (disease control; DC) and examined how various leaf extracts: crude leaf suspension (CLS), boiled leaf extract (BLE), sonicated leaf extract (SLE), methanol leaf extract (MLE) and hexane leaf extract (HLE) of O. octandra ameliorate TAA-induced liver disease. The CLS, BLE and SLE treatments in cirrhotic rats significantly attenuated disease-related changes, such as liver weight and hepato-enzymes. The mRNA levels of Tnf-α were significantly decreased by 3.6, 10 and 3.9 times in CLS, BLE and SLE compared to DC. The same treatments resulted in significantly lower (19.5, 4.2 and 2.4 times) α-Sma levels compared to DC. In addition, Tgf-β1 and Vegf-R2 mRNA expressions were significantly lower with the treatments. Moreover, BLE expressed a strong anti-angiogenic effect. We conclude that CLS, BLE and SLE from O. octandra have potent hepatic anti-fibrotic effects in TAA-induced liver cirrhosis.     

Determination of bakkenolide A in rat plasma using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

A sensitive rapid analytical method was established and validated to determine the bakkenolide A (BA) in rat plasma. This method was further applied to assess the pharmacokinetics of BA in rats receiving a single dose of BA. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode was used in the method, and costundide was used as internal standard. A simple protein precipitation based on methanol was employed. The combination of a simple sample cleanup and short chromatographic running time (2.4 min) increased the throughput of the method substantially. The method was validated over the range of 1–1000 ng/mL with a correlation coefficient > 0.99. The lower limit of quantification was 1 ng/mL for BA in plasma. Intra‐ and inter‐day accuracies for BA were 93–112% and 103–104%, respectively, and the inter‐day precision was less than 15%. After a single oral dose of 20 mg/kg of BA, the mean peak plasma concentration (C_max) of BA was 234.7 ± 161 ng/mL at 0.25 h. The area under the plasma concentration–time curve (AUC_{0–24 h}) was 535.8 ± 223.7 h·ng/mL, and the elimination half‐life (T_1/2) was 5.0 ± 0.36 h. In case of intravenous administration of BA at a dosage of 2 mg/kg, the area under the plasma concentration–time curve (AUC_{0–24 h}) was 342 ± 98 h?ng/mL, and the elimination half‐life (T_1/2) was 5.8 ± 0.7 h. Based on the results, the oral bioavailability of BA in rats at 20 mg/kg is 15.7%. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

金丝桃提取物抗抑郁症作用的研究

目的：探讨贯叶金丝桃提取物抗大鼠抑郁症作用.方法：采用大鼠皮下利血平造模,造模前分别给大鼠口服金丝桃提取物7天,观察药物对大鼠开野实验,拮抗利血平所致的大鼠体温下降,眼睑下垂情况等实验指标.结果：开野实验中,金丝桃提取物能明显增加大鼠的修饰次数;金丝桃提取物320 mg/kg能显著拮抗利血平所致的体温下降作用和眼睑下垂作用,80 mg/kg和160 mg/kg 2个剂量组也有一定的拮抗作用.结论：金丝桃提取物具有一定的抗抑郁作用.     

固相萃取-高效液相色谱/串联质谱法测定大鼠血浆中二十二碳六烯酸

建立了固相萃取-高效液相色谱/串联质谱(SPE-HPLC-MS/MS)测定大鼠血浆中二十二碳六烯酸(DHA)的分析方法。血浆样品经C18固相萃取(SPE)小柱净化后,采用Thermo C18色谱柱分离,以0.2%甲酸水溶液和乙腈为流动相,等度洗脱,在电喷雾离子源负离子模式下,采用质谱选择反应监测(SRM)模式检测,外标法定量。结果表明:DHA在0.10~60.0μg/mL范围内具有良好的线性关系(r2=0.9990);检出限(S/N=3)为0.04μg/mL,定量限(S/N=10)为0.10μg/mL;在2、10、30μg/mL 3个添加水平下,其平均回收率为94.0%~106.9%,方法的相对标准偏差(RSD)在2.15%~3.12%之间。该方法简单、快速,准确度、灵敏度高,适用于大鼠血浆中DHA的分析检测。     

Pharmacokinetics study of 16 active ingredients from Tabson‐2 decoction in normal and d‐galactose induced osteoporosis rats by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Tabson‐2 decoction is the traditional Mongolian formula for anti‐osteoporosis, and the ambiguous of active ingredient is an important factor in restricting its modernization and globalization. Although pharmacokinetic profiles research is a viable approach to find the components being responsible for formula efficacy, the pharmacokinetics study of Tabson‐2 decoction has not been elucidated yet. Owing to the existence of isomers, low bioavailability of some small molecule and interference of endogenous, the pharmacokinetics study of Tabson‐2 decoction are more difficult than that of chemical drugs. In our experiment, a specific and sensitive liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of 16 active ingredients in Tabson‐2 decoction, which could fulfill the requirements of multi‐compounds pharmacokinetic study of Tabson‐2 decoction. Additionally, the ingredients with significant distributions in rats were gentianic acid, chlorogenic acid, and aucubin, which could be the main potential active components in Tabson‐2 decoction. The components with a significant bioavailability difference between normal and d ‐galactose induced osteoporosis rats were achieved as well. These data offer useful information for screening the active ingredients in Tabson‐2 decoction, and assessing the bioavailability of these active ingredients in different physiological status, which might provide a possible mechanism of anti‐osteoporosis efficacy of Tabson‐2 decoction.     

Anti-hypertensive effects of Radix Rehmanniae and its active ingredients

Abstract

Radix Rehmanniae (RR) is the root tuber of Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch. Herein, the methanol extracts of dried RR (DRR) and processed RR (PRR) were partitioned to obtain ethyl acetate, aqueous, and n-butanol layers. The angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition test indicated that the ethyl acetate extracts of DRR (DRRE) and PRR (PRRE) show better inhibitory activity. Therefore, changes in blood pressure were tested over 24?h in spontaneously hypertensive rats, with DRR showing good anti-hypertensive activity. DRRE was further subjected to column chromatography; 28 fractions were separated and tested for ACE inhibition. Ultimately, six compounds were identified by spectral analysis, and literature comparison. Specifically, ursolic acid and oleanolic acid showed better ACE inhibition than the other compounds. This study confirmed that DRR has anti-hypertensive activity. In future, DRR’s potential as a health food should be further assessed.     

The Sex Attractant Pheromone of Male Brown Rats: Identification and Field Experiment

Trapping brown rats is challenging because they avoid newly placed traps in their habitat. Herein, we report the identification of the sex pheromone produced by male brown rats and its effect on trap captures of wild female brown rats. Collecting urine‐ and feces‐soiled bedding material of laboratory‐kept rats and comparing the soiled‐bedding odorants of juvenile and adult males, as well as of adult males and females, we found nine compounds that were specific to, or most prevalent in, the odor profiles of sexually mature adult males. When we added a synthetic blend of six of these compounds (2‐heptanone, 4‐heptanone, 3‐ethyl‐2‐heptanone, 2‐octanone, 2‐nonanone, 4‐nonanone) to one of two paired food‐baited trap boxes, these boxes attracted significantly more laboratory‐strain female rats in laboratory experiments, and captured ten times more wild female rats in a field experiment than the corresponding control boxes. Our data show that the pheromone facilitates captures of wild female brown rats.     

The acute toxicity of tri-n-butyltin glycocholate

The oral acute toxicity for tri-n-butyltin glycocholate (TBT-GA), a newly synthesized organotin steroid, was determined using Long Evans rats. The compound was suspended in corn oil and adminstered by gavage using standard techniques. Unlike tri-n-butyltin taurocholate, which exhibited two different toxicities, one for the tri-n-butyltin moiety and one for the taurocholic acid moiety, the TBT-GA exhibited a single toxicity, that of the whole molecule. The LD₅₀ value was 213 mg kg^?1 (0.274 mmol kg), which on a millimolar basis is similar to that observed for other tri-n-butyltin compounds. The dead rats exhibited distended stomachs, enlarged ceca, and lesions in the intestinal tract. The actual cause of death could not be positively identified. Animals that survived more than three days also exhibited time- and dose-related atrophy of the thymus gland. With 36% more male than female rats succumbing to TBT-GA, the chemical appears to be more toxic towards male than female rats.     

Determination of lipoprotein lipase activity in post heparin plasma of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

The activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), an enzyme responsible for lipoprotein metabolism, would vary in diseases and metabolic disorders. For determination of LPL activity, a highly sensitive high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method using a fluorescent reagent, 4-nitro-7-piperazino-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-PZ) was applied to determinate the oleic acid (OA) generated from triolein by LPL activity without multiple solvents extraction step. We studied the optimal conditions of the reaction including the effect of emulsifiers, deproteinizing solvents, and the concentration of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Ten millimolar concentrations of triolein, 5% of BSA, 1% of Gum arabic (GA), and acetonitrile showed the optimum conditions for measuring the LPL activity. The accuracy values for the determination of LPL activity in 10 microL of rat post heparin plasma were 108.73 approximately 114.36%, and the intra- and inter-day precision values were within 1.28% and 2.91%, respectively. The limit of detection was about 4.53 nM (signal-to-noise ratio 3). The proposed method was applied to determination of LPL activity in post heparin plasma of normal and streptozotocininduced diabetic rats associated with 52.3% reduction. The established assay system could be used for determining LPL activity in different physiological and pathological conditions to clarify the relationship between LPL activity and diabetes mellitus.