Protective effects of Rabdosia japonica var. glaucocalyx extract on lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in mice

Simultaneous determination of glaucocalyxin A and glaucocalyxin B in rat plasma by LC-MS/MS and its application to a pharmacokinetic study after oral administration of Rabdosia japonica extract

A specific and sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the analysis of glaucocalyxin A and glaucocalyxin B in rat plasma using praeruptorin A as an internal standard. Separation was performed on a Hypurity C₁₈ column (2.1 × 50 mm, 5 μm) with isocratic elution using 0.2% formic acid in water-acetonitrile (20:80, v/v). Mass spectrometric detection was conducted using selected reaction monitoring via an electrospray ionization source. Both analytes exhibited good linearity within their concentration ranges (r² > 0.9932). The lower limit of quantitation of glaucocalyxin A and glaucocalyxin B was 1.10 ng/mL. Intra- and inter-day precision exhibited an RSD within 14.5%, and the accuracy (RE) ranged from -12.1 to 15.0% at the lower limit of quantitation and three quality control levels. The developed assay was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of glaucocalyxin A and glaucocalyxin B in rats after oral administration of Rabdosia japonica extract.