LC-MS/MS method for the determination of clodronate in human plasma.

Clodronate belongs to the class of bisphosphonates which are used for the treatment of bone disorders. Due to its high polarity it has a low and highly variable oral bioavailability which results in low plasma concentrations and requires sensitive bioanalytical methods to characterize its pharmacokinetics in human. Here, we describe for the first time the development and validation of a LC-MS/MS assay for the quantification of clodronate in human plasma. The bisphosphonate was isolated from the biological matrix by protein precipitation using perchloric acid (10%), and derivatized with trimethylorthoacetate prior sample clean-up with liquid-liquid extraction using methyl tert-butyl ether. The chromatography was performed using an isocratic elution with ammonium acetate 5mM (85% v/v, pH 3.8) and acetonitrile (15% v/v) as mobile phase with a flow rate of 300µl/min on a reversed-phase column (Supelco Ascentis(®), C18) temporized at 50°C. The mass spectrometric detection was done using the API4000 triple quadruple mass spectrometer monitoring the mass/charge transitions 301.0/145 for clodronate and 305.2/137.1 for the internal standard etidronate. The analytical range was set to 5-800ng/ml, allowing an evaluation of the plasma concentration-time profiles of clodronate for approximately 7-8 half-life (∼24h). The method was validated according to current FDA/EMA guidelines on bioanalytical method validation with respect to specificity, linearity, intra- and inter-day accuracy and precision, matrix effect, recovery as well as stability. The precision of the assay was 0.6-6.9% and 0.6-8.1% for the intra-day and inter-day variability, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day accuracy (error) was 0.6-8.8% and 2.2-4.5%. The recovery of the analyte was low (2-3%) but reproducible over the entire validation range and sufficient to monitor the target concentrations in human plasma. The drug was shown to be stable in plasma at room temperature for at least 3h (96.0±6%) and for at least 24h when stored in the cooled autosampler at 4°C (102.4±4.5%). Clodronate can also undergo up to three freeze-thaw cycles without impaired stability. Thus, the method was shown to possess sufficient specificity, sensitivity, accuracy, precision and stability to measure plasma concentrations of clodronate. Finally, the developed method was successfully applied to study the clodronate serum levels in a pharmacokinetic study in healthy volunteers.

Quantitative determination of methylnaltrexone in human serum using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Methylnaltrexone (MNTX) is a novel peripherally acting µ-opioid antagonist that prevents peripheral side effects of opioid drugs such as constipation without affecting the analgesia. We developed a selective and sensitive assay to measure MTNX concentrations in human serum. The drug was measured after protein precipitation with perchloric acid using naltrexone as internal standard and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for detection. The chromatography was performed isocratically on a RP18 column using 25 mM ammonium acetate buffer (pH 4)/acetonitrile (90%/10%; flow rate 200 µl/min) as mobile phase. The MS/MS analysis was performed in positive ionization mode monitoring the m/z transitions 356.4/284.2 for MNTX and 342.4/324.2 for naltrexone. The method was validated according to selectivity, linearity, accuracy, precision, recovery, matrix effects and stability. The validation range for MNTX in serum was 0.5-250 ng/ml. The developed LC-MS/MS was shown to be valid and successfully applied to measure serum-concentration-time curves of MNTX in a pilot study in healthy volunteers.