A simple and sensitive liquid chromatography/ tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the quantification of bulleyaconitine A (BLA) in human serum. Samples were extracted from human serum by protein precipitation. Domperidone was used as internal standard (I.S.). Chromatography separation was performed on a Waters Sunfire C18 column (2:1 Â 50 mm, 5 m) with a gradient mobile phase. Detection was performed in positive mode using multiple reaction monitoring

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... of the transition m=z 644:2 > 584:3 for BLA and m=z 426:3 > 175:3 for I.S. The proposed method was validated in a linear range of 0.0587-11.7 ng/ml. Intra-and inter-day precision was better than 9.88% and 7.76%. The recovery for BLA was 97.90%, and for I.S. 89.40%. This method provides a simple, rapid, specific, and sensitive tool for the quantitativedetermination of BLA in human serum, and can be used to monitor serum levels in patients treated with BLA.