LC determination and pharmacokinetics study of mangiferin in rat plasma and tissues

An LC method was developed for determination of mangiferin in rat plasma and tissues after oral administration of Rhizoma Anemarrhenae extract. Analysis was performed on a Gemini C18 analytical column (250 x 4.6 mm, i.d.) with mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile-water (23:77, v/v) with 1% acetic acid and 1% tetrahydrofuran at a flow rate of 0.7 mL min^-1. Spinosin was used as internal standard and UV detector was set at 320 nm. The calibration curve of mangiferin in rat plasma and tissues showed excellent linear behaviors over the investigated concentration ranges with the value of R² higher than 0.994. The within-day and between-day precisions for all samples were measured to be below 11.0%. The limit of quantitation was low enough for determination of mangiferin in all samples. After Rhizoma Anemarrhenae extract was orally administered to rats, the main pharmacokinetic parameters of mangiferin T _max, C_max, T_0.5α, T_0.5β, AUC_{0 - T} and Vc were 4.20 h, 9.52 μg mL^-1, 1.21 h, 1.71 h, 29.9 mg h L^-1 and 0.18 L kg^-1, respectively. Mangiferin was extensively distributed in most of the main tissues of rats. This validated method has been successfully applied to preliminary pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution study of mangiferin in rats.