A simple LC-ESI–MS/MS method for quantification of bacopaside I in rat plasma and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

•Bacopaside I is one of the main pseudojujubogenin glycosides of Bacopa monniera.•An LC-ESI–MS/MS method was developed to determine bacopaside I in rat plasma.•This is the report to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of bacopaside I.

Bacopaside I is one of the main pseudojujubogenin glycosides isolated from Bacopa monniera. In the present study, a rapid and robust LC-ESI–MS/MS method was developed and validated to quantify bacopaside I in rat plasma. After plasma samples were deproteinized by methanol, the post-treatment samples were analyzed on a Zorbax Eclipse Plus C18 (2.1 × 50 mm, 1.8 μm) column using a mobile phase of acetonitrile and water (65:35, v/v). Detection was performed on a triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer with selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode via electrospray ionization source. This method covered a linearity range of 10–2000 ng/mL with the lower limit of quantification of 10 ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day precisions of analysis were less than 10.2%, and the accuracies were between −11.1% and 8.4% at the concentrations of 25, 150 and 1800 ng/mL. The total run time was 6.0 min. This method was successfully applied to the preclinical pharmacokinetic study of bacopaside I following intravenous or oral administration to rats.