Determination of xanthotoxin using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and its application to pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution model in rat

A simple and selective liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method for determination of xanthotoxin in rat plasma and various tissues for pharmacokinetic was developed. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a C18 (2.1 mm × 150 mm, 5 μm) column with acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid in water as mobile phase with gradient elution. An electrospray ionization source was applied and operated in positive ion mode; selective ion monitoring (SIM) mode was used for quantification using target fragment ions m/z 217 for xanthotoxin and m/z 326 for the internal standard. The resulting calibration curves offered satisfactory linearity (R(2) > 0.99) within the test range. Mean recoveries of xanthotoxin in rat plasma were in the range of 79.9%-84.6%. RSD of intra-day and inter-day precision were both < 14%. The accuracy of the method ranged from 87.5% to 109.8%. The assay was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution model studies of xanthotoxin in rats. The oral bioavailability of xanthotoxin was 73.2% in rats.