Determination of strychnine and brucine in rat plasma using liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

A simple, sensitive and selective liquid chromatography–electrospray mass spectrometric (LC–ESI-MS) method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of strychnine and brucine in rat plasma, using tacrine as the internal standard (IS). Sample preparation involved a liquid–liquid extraction of the analytes with n-hexane, dichloromethane and isopropanol (65:30:5, v/v/v) from 0.1 mL of plasma. Chromatographic separation was carried out on a Waters C18 column using a mobile phase of methanol–20 mM ammonium formate–formic acid (32:68:0.68, v/v/v). Positive selected ion monitoring mode was used for detection of strychnine, brucine and the IS at m/z 335.2, m/z 395.2 and m/z 199.2, respectively. Linearity was obtained over the concentration range of 0.5–500 ng/mL for strychnine and 0.1–100 ng/mL for brucine. The lower limit of quantification was 0.5 ng/mL and 0.1 ng/mL for strychnine and brucine, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precision for both strychnine and brucine was less than 7.74%, and accuracy ranged from −4.38% to 2.21% at all QC levels. The method has been successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of processed Semen Strychni after oral administration to rats.