A simple, sensitive and rapid solid-phase extraction method by using high performance liquid chromatography (SPE-HPLC) was developed for simultaneous determination of four coumarins, psoralen, isopsoralen, imperatorin and isoimperatorin using osthole as internal standard. Using this method, pharmacokinetic of these coumarins in rat plasma was analyzed after oral administration of a traditional Chinese medicine "YIGONG" capsule. Plasma samples were pretreated with solid-phase extraction using Extract-CleanTM cartridges, and separation of the extracts was performed on a Eurospher C18 column using methanol-water as mobile phase. The quantification limits for psoralen, isopsoralen, imperatorin and isoimperatorin in rat plasma were 9.7, 7.1, 6.7 and 3.0 ng mL-1, respectively. Average extract recoveries of the four coumarins from rat plasma were all over 80%. Precisions determined from 6 days were all within 10%. It was concluded that the established method is suitable for pharmacokinetic studies of these four coumarins in rat plasma.
coumarins; SPE-HPLC; pharmacokinetics
