A solid‐phase extraction method for high‐performance liquid chromatographic determination of salvianolic acid B in rabbit plasma: application to pharmacokinetic study

A sensitive solid‐phase extraction/high‐performance liquid chromatographic method with ultraviolet detection was established for the analysis of salvianolic acid B in rabbit plasma. The analyte was separated on a reversed‐phase column with trifluoroacetic acid–methanol–acetonitrile (70:10:20, v/v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL/min, and ultraviolet detection at 315 nm. The calibration curve for salvianolic acid B was linear over the range 35–1400 µg/L with coefficients of correlation >0.999. The inter‐day and intra‐day precisions of analysis were <15%, and assay accuracy ranged from 95.3 to 109.1%. This method is suitable for determining salvianolic acid B in plasma and thus investigating the pharmacokinetics of salvianolic acid B. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.