Simultaneous quantitation of aconitine, mesaconitine, hypaconitine, benzoylaconine, benzoylmesaconine and benzoylhypaconine in human plasma by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry and pharmacokinetics evaluation of “SHEN-FU” injectable powder

A rapid, specific and sensitive liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method was developed for simultaneous quantitation of six Aconitum alkaloids, i.e. aconitine (AC), mesaconitine (MA), hypaconitine (HA), benzoylaconine (BAC), benzoylmesaconine (BMA) and benzoylhypaconine (BHA) in human plasma collected from 18 healthy volunteers after intravenous drop infusion of “SHEN-FU” injectable powder in three different dosages. Lappaconitine was selected as the internal standard (IS). LC/MS/MS system coupled with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source was performed in multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The transitions of the Aconitum alkaloids executed as following: m/z 646.3 → 586.0 for AC; m/z 632.4 → 573.1 for MA; m/z 616.2 → 556.1 for HA; m/z 604.2 → 104.8 for BAC; m/z 590.1 → 104.8 for BMA; m/z 574.1 → 104.8 for BHA; m/z 585.2 → 161.8 for IS. Sample preparation was performed with solid-phase extraction (SPE) on a 1 mL HLB cartridge prior to analysis. The separation was applied on a Waters C18 column (1.7 μm, 2.1 mm × 100 mm) and a gradient elution of methanol and 0.1% formic acid–water was used as mobile phase. The retention time was less than 4.5 min. The concentrations ranged from 0.1 to 1000 ng/mL for all six Aconitum alkaloids and showed a good linearity with the correlation coefficient (r2) >0.995. The validated method was employed to simultaneous quantitation and successfully used for the first time for the pharmacokinetic evaluation of the six Aconitum alkaloids after intravenous drop administration of “SHEN-FU” injectable powder in phase I clinical trial.