Simultaneous determination of albiflorin and paeoniflorin in rat urine by solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography following oral administration of Si-Wu decoction.

A high performance liquid chromatographic method (HPLC), together with solid phase extraction (SPE), was developed for simultaneous determination of albiflorin and paeoniflorin in rat urine after oral administration of Si-Wu decoction. The samples were pretreated with solid phase extraction using Extract-Cleantrade mark cartridges. Analysis of the extract was performed on a reversed-phase C18 column and a mobile phase made up of acetonitrile and 0.03% formic acid (17:83, v/v). UV detection was set at 230 nm. The assay was linear over the range 2.625-52.50 mg/mL for albiflorin and 3.875-77.50 microg/mL for paeoniflorin. The average percentage recoveries of three spiked urines were 97.01 +/- 3.32 and 102.32 +/- 6.97 for albiflorin and paeoniflorin, respectively. The intra-day precision (RSD) ranged from 0.21 to 1.79% at concentrations of 4.20, 10.50, 26.25 and 39.375 microg/mL of albiflorin and 0.12 to 2.92% at concentrations of 3.875, 10.85, 23.25 and 58.125 microg/mL of paeoniflorin, and inter-day precision (RSD) was from 1.02 to 1.86% for albiflorin and 0.94 to 3.30% for paeoniflorin, at the same four concentrations. This method was applied in order to analyze albiflorin and paeoniflorin in rat urine following oral administration of traditional Chinese medicinal preparation of Si-Wu decoction.