Simultaneous determination of five constituents of areca nut extract in rat plasma using UPLC-MS/MS and its application in a pharmacokinetic study

Mingyu Pan; Wenfeng Geng; Yuanxiao Wang; Makoto Tsunoda; Jiatong Liu; Yingxia Zhang; Haimei Yang; Lu-Shuang Li; Shiwen Song; Jinqiang Liang; Yanting Song

doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2024.116158

Simultaneous determination of five constituents of areca nut extract in rat plasma using UPLC-MS/MS and its application in a pharmacokinetic study

J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2024 Apr 16:245:116158. doi: 10.1016/j.jpba.2024.116158. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Tropical Biological Resources of Ministry of Education, Hainan Engineering Research Center for Drug Screening and Evaluation, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan 570228, China.
² Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
³ College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310030, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Tropical Biological Resources of Ministry of Education, Hainan Engineering Research Center for Drug Screening and Evaluation, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan 570228, China. Electronic address: 995269@hainanu.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Tropical Biological Resources of Ministry of Education, Hainan Engineering Research Center for Drug Screening and Evaluation, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan 570228, China. Electronic address: songyt@hainanu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38643703
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2024.116158

Abstract

Areca nuts have been used as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. Recent studies have shown that it exhibits good pharmacological activity and toxicity. In this study, the pharmacokinetics of five major components of areca nut extract in rats were investigated using a highly sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method. Arecoline, arecaidine, guvacoline, guvacine, and catechin were separated and quantified accurately using gradient elution with mobile phases of (A) water containing 0.1 % formic acid-10 mM ammonium formate, and (B) methanol. The constituents were detected under a timing switch between the positive and negative ion modes using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Each calibration curve had a high R² value of >0.99. The method accuracies ranged -7.09-11.05 % and precision values were less than 14.36 %. The recovery, matrix effect, selectivity, stability, and carry-over of the method were in accordance with the relevant requirements. It was successfully applied for the investigation of the pharmacokinetics of these five constituents after oral administration of areca nut extract. Pharmacokinetic results indirectly indicated a metabolic relationship between the four areca nut alkaloids in rats. For further clarification of its pharmacodynamic basis, this study provided a theoretical reference.

Keywords: Areca nut; Pharmacokinetic; UPLC-MS/MS.