Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometric Determination of Geniposide in Rat Plasma and its Pharmacokinetic Application

Geniposide is a biologically active ingredient of gardenia fruit. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method was developed and validated for the determination of geniposide in rat plasma. The plasma samples were pretreated by solid-phase extraction and introduced into a BDS Hypersil $C_{18}$ column ($50{\times}2.1mm$, $5{\mu}m$) for chromatographic separation. The mobile phase consisted of 0.1% formic acid and 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile, and gradient elution was performed at a flow rate of 0.25 mL/min. For mass spectrometric detection, multiple reaction monitoring was performed via an electrospray ionization source in positive mode. The calibration curve for geniposide was linear ($r^2=0.997$) in the concentration range of $0.005-1{\mu}g/mL$. The intra- and inter-day accuracies and precisions fulfilled the required criteria (${\pm}15%$). The developed method was subsequently used for pharmacokinetic analysis of geniposide after oral administration to rats at a dose of 50 mg/kg. The mean maximum plasma concentration of geniposide was $0.68{\pm}0.29{\mu}g/mL$ at $0.44{\pm}0.13h$, and the mean area under the plasma concentration versus time curve was $1.46{\mu}g{\cdot}h/mL$.