Determination of ligustilide in the brains of freely moving rats using microdialysis coupled with ultra performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

In this paper, microdialysis combined with ultra performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) was applied for the determination of ligustilide in freely moving rats' brain. The extracellular unbound ligustilide could be detected in rat brain within the first time interval (0–20 min) after nasal administration but not after oral administration. This result showed that ligustilide could quickly enter the brain after nasal administration; which implied that ligustilide may have a rapid onset of action. This work demonstrated the potential application of microdialysis combined with UPLC-MS in pharmacokinetic studies. Furthermore, the advantage that fewer animals used in the microdialysis experiment was confirmed.

Graphical AbstractMicrodialysis with ultra performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) was applied for the determination of ligustilide in freely moving rats' brain.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide