Crocin and crocetin in rat plasma were simultaneously analysed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectroscopy (UPLC-MS/MS), and method was fully validated. For the first time, levels of both crocin and crocetin in plasma were profiled after oral administration of crocin, and this UPLC-MS/MS approach was applied to evaluate pharmacokinetics and relative bioavailability of crocin and crocetin in rats. It was shown that crocin transformed into crocetin quickly in the gastrointestinal tract, and crocetin was 56-81 fold higher exposed in rat plasma than crocin after oral administration of crocin. A comparison study revealed that an oral administration of equal molar crocin achieved higher exposure of crocetin in rat plasma than that of crocetin. It was suggested that oral administration of crocin has the advantages over crocetin, and crocetin be the active component potentially responsible for the pharmacological effect of crocin.
... 2.2. Materials. Crocin (purity: 99.33%) and crocetin (purity: 96.61%) were purchased from Chengdu Biopurify Phytochemicals Ltd (Chengdu, China). Digoxin was used as the internal standard (IS, purchased from Jiangsu Institute for Food and Drug Control, Nanjing, China). ...
Sensitive analysis and simultaneous assessment of pharmacokinetic properties of crocin and crocetin after oral administration in rats
期刊名：Journal of Chromatography B
文献编号：
文献地址： http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570023216307784
发表日期：15 December 2016
文献编号：
文献地址： http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570023216307784
发表日期：15 December 2016
