Pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution study of camellianin A and its major metabolite in rats by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

Camellianin A is a major active constituent of Adinandra nitida. A LC-MS/MS method for the determination of camellianin A and its metabolite (camellianin B) in rat plasma and tissues was developed and applied to a pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution study. Samples were separated on a Waters HSS T3 column with a mobile phase consisted of methanol and water (containing 0.1% formic acid). MS/MS detection was carried out on a triple-quadruple mass spectrometer under negative ESI mode. Pharmacokinetics study showed that camellianin A was rapidly eliminated with a to of 92.6 +/- 41.4h and CL of 3.19 +/- 0.471 L/min/kg. Additionally, camellianin A showed a low oral bioavailability of 2.99% and a narrow tissue distribution; however, camellianin B was proved to have a wide tissue distribution with brain penetration. The data presented in this study provides useful information for the further applications of A. nitida and camellianin A. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.