Simultaneous determination of paeoniflorin, albiflorin, ferulic acid, tetrahydropalmatine, protopine, typhaneoside, senkyunolide I in Beagle dogs plasma by UPLC–MS/MS and its application to a pharmacokinetic study after Oral Administration of Shaofu Zhuyu

• UPLC–MS/MS method was firstly developed.
• The total run time was 10 min by UPLC–MS/MS.
• The pharmacokinetic study of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction in Beagle dogs was firstly reported.
• Simple and rapid one-step protein precipitation by methanol was used.
• The method provided lower LLOQs and accomplished high-resolution separation.

In this present study, a sensitive and rapid UPLC–MS/MS method was developed for simultaneous quantification of paeoniflorin, albiflorin, ferulic acid, tetrahydropalmatine, protopine, typhaneoside and senkyunolide I in Beagle dog plasma after oral administration of the Shao-Fu-Zhu-Yu Decoction. Chloramphenicol and clarithromycin were used as internal standards. Plasma samples were processed by protein precipitation with methanol. The separation was performed on an Acquity BEH C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) at a flow-rate of 0.4 mL/min, using 0.1% formic acid–acetonitrile as mobile phase. Method validation was performed as per Food and Drug Administration guidelines and the results met the acceptance criteria. After validation, this method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study. The results showed that the apparent plasma clearance of paeoniflorin, albiflorin, typhaneoside and senkyunolide I were significantly higher than others. Double peak was observed in plasma concentration curves of tetrahydropalmatine, the ferulic acid had a good absorption in Beagle dog plasma, and senkyunolide I was detected in plasma from the first blood sampling time (15 min) and rapidly reached Tmax. The compound of typhaneoside has a low bioavailability according to the results.