Improved RP-HPLC method to determine neferine in dog plasma and its application to pharmacokinetics

Existing methods to determine neferine, a bisbenzylisoquinline alkaloid, either have no internal standard or lack selectivity, or take longer time. Here an improved reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method was established in biological samples. The extraction recovery was 90.9% for neferine at concentration level of 0.2 μg/ml and 77.7% for dauricine (the internal standard) at 5 μg/ml in dog plasma, respectively. The linear quantification range of the method was 25–2 000 ng/ml in dog plasma, with linear correlation coefficients greater than 0.999. The intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviations (R.S.D.s) for nerferine at 50, 200 and 1 000 ng/ml levels in dog plasma fell in the range of 3.0–5.4% and 4.3–9.5%, respectively. The RP-HPLC method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetics study, in which experimental dogs received a single dose of neferine (5 mg/kg i.v. or 10 mg/kg p.o.). The pharmacokinetic result was presented.