Toxicokinetic evaluation of atrasentan in mice utilizing serial microsampling: validation and sample analysis in GLP study.

BACKGROUND: A semi-automated 96-well protein precipitation followed by HPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of atrasentan (2R-[4-methoxyphenyl]-4S-[1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl]-1-[N,N-di-(N-butyl)-aminocarbonyl-methyl]-pyrrolidine-3R-carboxylic acid) in mouse whole blood was developed, validated and utilized in GLP toxicokinetic evaluations. Six 40-µl whole blood samples were collected from a single mouse over the course of a 12 h blood collection window. To avoid sample volume losses, whole blood was selected as the matrix in place of the more typically used plasma. A 10-µl assay volume was used to ensure sufficient volumes are available for dilutions, repeats and incurred sample reanalysis. The samples (10-µl aliquot) were fortified with stable-labeled internal standard (d18-atrasentan) and lysed thoroughly prior to protein precipitation. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Zorbax(®) SB-C18 (50 x 2.1 mm; 5 µm) HPLC column with a mobile phase consisting of 25 mM ammonium acetate and 0.25% (v/v) acetic acid in 50/50 (v/v) acetonitrile/water. The MS measurement was conducted under positive ion mode using multiple-reaction monitoring of m/z 511→354 for analyte and 529→354 for stable-labeled internal standard. The peak area ratio (analyte:stable-labeled internal standard) was used to quantitate atrasentan. RESULTS: A dynamic range of 5-1400 ng/ml was established after validation. The challenges associated with a small-volume whole-blood assay involved anticoagulant overloading with commercial blood collection tubes, managing phospholipids to ensure a robust assay and automation. In-depth discussions are provided in this article. The validated method was then used for GLP toxicokinetic evaluations. To demonstrate the method reproducibility, approximately 10% of the incurred samples from the study were repeated in singlet. Excellent assay reproducibility was demonstrated where 100% of samples met incurred sample reanalysis acceptance criteria. CONCLUSION: Good quality exposure data were obtained from every serial sampled mouse in the study.

LC-MS/MS determination of 2-(4-((2-(2S,5R)-2-Cyano-5-ethynyl-1-pyrrolidinyl)-2-oxoethylamino)-4-methyl-1-piperidinyl)-4-pyridinecarboxylic acid (ABT-279) in dog plasma with high-throughput protein precipitation sample preparation.

As an effective DPP-IV inhibitor, 2-(4-((2-(2S,5R)-2-Cyano-5-ethynyl-1-pyrrolidinyl)-2-oxoethylamino)-4-methyl-1-piperidinyl)-4-pyridinecarboxylic acid (ABT-279), is an investigational drug candidate under development at Abbott Laboratories for potential treatment of type 2 diabetes. In order to support the development of ABT-279, multiple analytical methods for an accurate, precise and selective concentration determination of ABT-279 in different matrices were developed and validated in accordance with the US Food and Drug Administration Guidance on Bioanalytical Method Validation. The analytical method for ABT-279 in dog plasma was validated in parallel to other validations for ABT-279 determination in different matrices. In order to shorten the sample preparation time and increase method precision, an automated multi-channel liquid handler was used to perform high-throughput protein precipitation and all other liquid transfers. The separation was performed through a Waters YMC ODS-AQ column (2.0 x 150 mm, 5 microm, 120 A) with a mobile phase of 20 mm ammonium acetate in 20% acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. Data collection started at 2.2 min and continued for 2.0 min. The validated linear dynamic range in dog plasma was between 3.05 and 2033.64 ng/mL using a 50 microL sample volume. The achieved r(2) coefficient of determination from three consecutive runs was between 0.998625 and 0.999085. The mean bias was between -4.1 and 4.3% for all calibration standards including lower limit of quantitation. The mean bias was between -8.0 and 0.4% for the quality control samples. The precision, expressed as a coefficient of variation (CV), was < or =4.1% for all levels of quality control samples. The validation results demonstrated that the high-throughput method was accurate, precise and selective for the determination of ABT-279 in dog plasma. The validated method was also employed to support two toxicology studies. The passing rate was 100% for all 49 runs from one validation study and two toxicology studies.