ABSTRACT
Curcumin, a lipophilic polyphenol derived from the roots of Curcuma longa. Recently, it has been widely investigatedas a therapeutic agent for cancer. Thus, there is a growing interest in measuring curcumin concentrations in theplasma and other target tissues in relevant animal models. We developed and validated a simple, fast, and reliablemethod for quantifying curcumin in biological matrices by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC)-MassSpectrometry (MS)/MS. The liquid chromatography system is using rapid separation on Acquity UPLC®BEH C18with gradient mobile phase contained formic acid and acetonitrile. Prior to detection, curcumin and internal standard(IS) were ionized using electrospray ionization positive source and the ions were monitored at m/z 369 → 177 and 260→ 183 for curcumin and IS, respectively. The calibration curve was linear (r ≥ 0.99) over the concentration range of1–50 ng/ml and 1–30 ng/ml for rat plasma and for ovary homogenate, respectively. The lower limit of quantificationwas 1 ng/ml. The mean accuracy ranged from 98.9% to 103.2% and 98% to 108.9%, while the coefficient of variation(CV) values of precision in rat plasma were below 11.92% and 10.47% for within and between run, respectively. Inrat ovary homogenate, the mean concentration and CV of within run accuracy and precision were 95.53%–109.78%and 3.34%–9.14%, respectively. The developed method was used to quantify curcumin in rat plasma and ovary afteran oral gavage. In conclusion, the developed and validated method should be useful for quantification of curcuminaccurately and precisely in plasma and target organs from relevant animal models of human diseases.