Study on pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution of lycorine in mice plasma and tissues by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

A fast and simple liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry method for the determination of lycorine in mice plasma and tissues was developed and well used in the pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution study of lycorine after tail vein injection and intraperitoneal administration. Biological samples were processed with ethyl acetate by liquid–liquid extraction, and evodiamine was used as the internal standard. Chromatographic separation was performed on an Amethyst C18 column (4.6×150 mm) with a mobile phase consisting of methanol and water. Quantification was performed by selected ion monitoring with m/z 288 [M+H]+ for lycorine and m/z 304 [M+H]+ for the internal standard. Good linearity was observed over the concentration ranges. Limits of quantification were low up to 10.0 ng/mL in plasma samples, 9.0 ng/g for lung, 12.0 ng/g for heart, 18.0 ng/g for spleen and 6.5 ng/g for other tested tissues. The intraday accuracy and precision in plasma and tissues ranged from −7.4% to 9.1%. Recoveries in plasma and tissue were more than 80%. The method was rapid, accurate and fully validated. It was successfully applied to the investigation of the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of lycorine in mice.