Quantification of neomangiferin in rat plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and its application to bioavailability study$

Neomangiferin, a natural C-glucosyl xanthone, has recently received a great deal of attention due to its multiple biological activities. In this study, a rapid and sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chroma-tography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS) method for the quantification of neomangiferin in rat plasma was developed. Using chloramphenicol as an internal standard (IS), plasma samples were subjected to a direct protein precipitation process using methanol (containing 0.05% formic acid). Quan-tification was performed by multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) method, with the transitions of the parent ions to the product ions of m/z 583.1-330.9 for NG and m/z 321.1-151.9 for IS. The assay was shown to be linear over the range of 0.2–400 ng/mL, with a lower limit of quantification of 0.2 ng/mL. Mean recovery of neomangiferin in plasma was in the range of 97.76%–101.94%. Relative standard deviations (RSDs) of intra-day and inter-day precision were both o 10%. The accuracy of the method ranged from 94.20%to 108.72%. This method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic study of neomangiferin after intravenous (2 mg/kg) and intragastric (10 mg/kg) administration for the first time. The oral absolute bioavailability of neomangiferin was estimated to be 0.53%7 0.08%with an elimination half-life (t1/2) value of 2.74 7 0.92 h, indicating its poor absorption and/or strong metabolism in vivo.