A simple and sensitive HPLC method has been developed and validated for the determination of oridonin (ORI) in rabbit plasma. A simple liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) method was applied to extract ORI and the internal standard (IS), isopsoralen, from rabbit plasma. Chromatographic separation of ORI and the IS was achieved with a Kromasil C18 5-mum column (250 mm x 4.6 mm) using methanol-water (50:50, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The ultraviolet (UV) detection wavelength was set at 241 nm. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 0.02 microg/mL. The calibration curves were linear over a concentration range of 0.02-10 microg/mL. The assay accuracy and precision were within the range of 95.1-113.5% and 5.4-8.6%, respectively. This HPLC method was applied successfully to the pharmacokinetic study of ORI-loaded poly(caprolactone)-poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(caprolactone) copolymer nanoparticles (ORI-PCL-PEO-PCL-NP) in rabbits, given as a single intravenous injection at the dose equivalent to 2mg of ORI/kg, and the pharmacokinetic parameters for ORI were compared with a single intravenous injection of a ORI solution at the same dose.