Abstract
Plantago asiatica is a medicinal and dietary plant rich in polyphenolic compounds such as phenylpropanoid glycosides plantamajoside and acteoside. The aims of the present study were to develop a new and sensitive method for simultaneous determination of plantamajoside and acteoside and investigate their pharmacokinetic properties in rats. A sensitive and rapid liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method with multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was employed for quantification of two analytes in rat plasma. The calibration curve was linear over the range of 0.2-200ng/ml with correlation coefficient greater than 0.9983 for both analytes. The accuracy of plantamajoside and acteoside were between -4.2% and 8.1%, -3.8% and 8.9% relative error, respectively. Precision for the two analytes ranged from 2.7 to 10.2% relative standard deviation. The pharmacokinetic results showed plantamajoside and acteoside were quickly absorbed in rat with the time to maximum plasma concentration 16.7±2.8 and 13.3±2.8min, respectively. The elimination constants were 0.28±0.01 1h(-1) for plantamajoside and 0.47±0.03 1h(-1) for acteoside. The developed method and the pharmacokinetic data provide a basis for further studies on bioactivity of P. asiatica.