A sensitive method is presented for the determination of aconitine, mesaconitine and hypaconitine in both extract and biological samples. The cited drugs were extracted using the usual alkaloidal extraction methods and purified then determined by HPLC using methanol - H20- CHCL3- triethylamine (700 : 300 : 10 : 1) as a mobile phase and UV detector at 254 nm. The sensitivity of the method ranged between 0.017 to 0.46 µg / ml , and a coefficient of variation 1.29 to 2.43 . The method was successfully applied for the quantitative determination of aconitine and its analogues in aconite extract and animal tissues.
Injection of verapamil to the experimental animals (mice & rats) significantly inereased LD50 in mice to 0.74 mg/kg and in rats to 4.8 mg/kg.