Abstract

A sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed for the investigation of the ginsenoside Rg1 in human plasma. After addition of internal standard (digoxin), plasma was diluted with acetone and methanol (80:20), the supernatant was concentrated and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. The optimal chromatographic separation was achieved on an Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18 column (4.6 × 150 mm, 5 μm) with a mobile phase of 0.1% formic acid in water and 0.1% formic acid in methanol at a flow rate of 0.9 mL/min gradient mode. The standard calibration curve for ginsenoside Rg1 was linear (r2=0.9995) over the concentration range 1~500 ng/mL in human plasma. The intra- and inter-day precision over the concentration range of ginsenoside Rg1 was lower than 7.53% (correlation of variance, CV), and accuracy exceeded 98.28%. This LC-MS/MS assay of ginsenoside Rg1 in human plasma is applicable for quantifying in the pharmacokinetic study.