Simultaneous determination of azelastine and its major metabolite desmethylazelastine in human plasma using high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A selective and sensitive high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method was developed for the analysis of azelastine and its major metabolite, desmethylazelastine, in human plasma. Azelastine-(13)C, d(3) was used as internal standard. Azelastine, desmethylazelastine and the internal standard were extracted by a liquid-liquid extraction method and separation was performed under isocratic chromatographic condition. An abnormal signal loss issue for desmethylazelastine during method development was investigated and resolved. The developed method was precise and reproducible as shown by good intraday assay and interday assay precision (CV%≤ 12.8%). The calibration curve was linear over a range of 10.0/10.0-1000/200 pg/mL for azelastine/desmethylazelastine. The method was successfully applied to a pilot bioequivalence study subsequently.

Simultaneous determination of oxymorphone and its active metabolite 6-OH-oxymorphone in human plasma by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A selective high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous determination of oxymorphone and its active metabolite 6-OH-oxymorphone in human plasma was developed and validated using oxymorphone-d(3) as the internal standard. Chromatographic conditions were optimized to separate oxymorphone from the other metabolite, oxymorphone-3-glucuronide, which may convert to oxymorphone in MS ion source, resulting in inaccurate quantitation of oxymorphone. Solid phase extraction (SPE) was used to extract oxymorphone and 6-OH-oxymorphone from plasma. SPE offered the advantage of being able to remove the unwanted metabolite, oxymorphone-3-glucuronide, through the wash step during the extraction. The developed method was precise and reproducible as shown by good linearity of calibration curves (correlation coefficients ≥0.9968 for oxymorphone and ≥0.9967 for 6-OH-oxymorphone) with high intraday assay and interday assay precision (CV% ≤11.0% for oxymorphone and ≤12.6% for 6-OH-oxymorphone) over a range of 35/25 - 5000/5000 pg/mL for oxymorphone/6-OH-oxymorphone. The method has been successfully applied to analyze oxymorphone and 6-OH-oxymorphone in plasma from 19 healthy volunteers in a bioequivalence study. A total of 1026 samples were analyzed. Good linearity (average correlation coefficient 0.9988 for oxymorphone and 0.9966 for 6-OH-oxymorphone) was achieved with calibration curves and high precision (CV% ≤5.9% for oxymorphone and ≤10.9% for 6-OH-oxymorphone) was obtained with QCs.

In vitro plasma protein binding determination of flunarizine using equilibrium dialysis and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A highly sensitive method was developed and validated for determining the free fraction of flunarizine in human plasma. Equilibrium dialysis was used for the separation of free (unbound) drug and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used for quantitation. Post-dialysis plasma or buffer samples of 0.2 mL were extracted using a liquid-liquid extraction procedure and analyzed using a high performance liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometer system. The compounds were eluted isocratically on a Supelco Supelcosil ABZ+Plus column, ionized using a positive ion atmospheric pressure electrospray ionization source, and analyzed using multiple reaction monitoring. The ion transitions monitored were m/z 405-->203 for flunarizine and m/z 409-->207 for flunarizine-d4 (internal standard, IS). The chromatographic run time was 3.5 min per injection, with retention times of 2.1 min for both flunarizine and IS. The calibration curve for flunarizine was linear over the concentration range of 0.25-2000 ng/mL (r(2)>0.9989) in the combined matrix of human plasma and isotonic sodium phosphate buffer (1:1, v/v) with the lower limit of quantitation of 0.25 ng/mL. The inter-assay coefficient of variability (CV) for the quality control samples was less than 13.5%, and the inter-assay percent nominal was greater than 98.2%. In vitro protein binding of flunarizine was determined at concentrations of 5, 10 and 100 microg/mL using the validated method. Flunarizine was extensively bound to plasma protein with a 0.083+/-0.005% overall percent free drug in plasma and a CV value less than 7.8%. This validated method will be used for the ex vivo assessment of flunarizine protein binding in human plasma from a drug-drug interaction clinical study.

Simultaneous determination of glycyrrhizin, a marker component in radix Glycyrrhizae, and its major metabolite glycyrrhetic acid in human plasma by LC-MS/MS.

Glycyrrhizin (GLY) which has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicinal preparation possesses various pharmacological effects. In order to investigate the pharmacokinetic behavior of GLY in human after oral administration of GLY or licorice root, a liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of GLY and its major metabolite glycyrrhetic acid (GA) in human plasma. The method involved a solid phase extraction of GLY, GA, and alpha-hederin, the internal standard (IS), from plasma with Waters Oasis MCX solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridges (30 mg) and a detection using a Micromass Quattro LC liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry system with electrospray ionization source in positive ion mode. Separation of the analytes was achieved within 5min on a SepaxHP CN analytical column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile:water (50:50, v:v) containing 0.1% formic acid and 5mM ammonium acetate. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) was utilized for the detection monitoring 823--> 453 for GLY, 471--> 177 for GA and 752--> 456 for IS. The LC-MS/MS method was validated for specificity, sensitivity, accuracy, precision, and calibration function. The assay had a calibration range from 10 to 10,000 ng/mL and a lower limit of quantification of 10 ng/mL for both GLY and GA when 0.2 mL plasma was used for extraction. The percent coefficient of variation for accuracy and precision (inter-run and intra-run) for this method was less than 11.0% with a %Nominal ranging from 87.6 to 106.4% for GLY and 93.7 to 107.8% for GA. Stability of the analytes over sample processing (freeze/thaw, bench-top and long-term storage) and in the extracted samples was also tested and established.

Simultaneous determination of glipizide and rosiglitazone unbound drug concentrations in plasma by equilibrium dialysis and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Glipizide and rosiglitazone are widely used to treat Type 2 diabetes. In order to investigate drug-drug protein binding interaction between glipizide and rosiglitazone, a method was developed and validated for simultaneously determining the free (unbound) fraction of glipizide and rosiglitazone in plasma employing equilibrium dialysis for the separation of free drug and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for quantitation. Post-dialysis human plasma or buffer samples of 0.2 ml were extracted using a liquid-liquid extraction procedure and analyzed by a high performance liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometer system. The compounds were eluted isocratically on a Zorbax SB-Phenyl column, ionized using an atmospheric pressure electrospray ionization source and analyzed in positive ion mode with multiple reaction monitoring. The ion transitions monitored were m/z 446-->321 for glipizide, m/z 358-->135 for rosiglitazone, and m/z 271-->155 for tolbutamide (internal standard, IS). The chromatographic run time was 5 min per injection, with retention times of 2.3, 3.4 and 2.3 min for glipizide, rosiglitazone and IS, respectively. The calibration curves of glipizide and rosiglitazone were over the range of 1-2000 ng/ml (r(2)>0.9969) in the combined matrix of human plasma and isotonic sodium phosphate buffer (1:1, v/v). The inter-assay precision and accuracy of the quality control samples were <10.9% of coefficient of variability and >93.5% and 94.5% of nominal concentration for glipizide and rosiglitazone, respectively. The lower limit of quantitation of both glipizide and rosiglitazone was 1.0 ng/ml. Both glipizide and rosiglitazone bound to plasma protein extensively (>99% bound). Glipizide and rosiglitazone free fraction averaged 0.678+/-0.071 and 0.389+/-0.061%, respectively, at plasma concentration of 1000 ng/ml. This developed method proves reproducible and sensitive and its application to clinical samples is also reported.

Simultaneous determination of pioglitazone and its two active metabolites in human plasma by LC-MS/MS.

A liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of pioglitazone (PIO) and its two metabolites: M-III (keto-derivative) and M-IV (hydroxy-derivative) in human plasma. Human plasma samples of 0.2 ml were extracted by a single step liquid-liquid extraction procedure and analyzed using a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) electrospray tandem mass spectrometer system. The compounds were eluted isocratically on a C-18 column, ionized using a positive ion atmospheric pressure electrospray ionization source and analyzed using multiple reaction monitoring mode. The ion transitions monitored were m/z 357-->134 for PIO, m/z 371-->148 for M-III, m/z 373-->150 for M-IV and m/z 413-->178 for the internal standard. The chromatographic run time was 2.5 min per injection, with retention times of 1.45, 1.02 and 0.95 min for PIO, M-III and M-IV, respectively. The calibration curves of pioglitazone, M-III and M-IV were well fit over the range of 0.5-2000 ng/ml (r(2)>0.998759) by using a weighted (1/x(2)) quadratic regression. The inter-day precisions of the quality control samples (QCs) were

Development and validation of a sensitive liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric method for the determination of cromolyn sodium in human plasma.

Cromolyn sodium is a safe compound with potent anti-allergic properties when used locally or topically. Clinical data from systemic exposure is not available because of the poor GI absorption when given orally. In order to evaluate a new approach to enhance the absorption and bioavailability of cromolyn sodium, a sensitive assay was needed to support an oral-dose study in humans. This paper describes a liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS-MS) method for the analysis of cromolyn sodium in human plasma. The method consists of a two-step extraction with subsequent analysis using a high-performance liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometer system. The compounds were eluted isocratically on a C(18) column followed by a backflush. The total run time is 6 min. The standard curve of cromolyn sodium was over the range of 0.313 to 750 ng/mL with a lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) of 0.313 ng/mL when 0.5 mL of plasma was used for analysis. The percent coefficient of variation (C.V.) for accuracy and precision (inter-assay and intra-assay) was less than 15% over the validated concentration range and the coefficients of determination, r(2), were >0.991577. The method is simple, sensitive, and selective, and has been successfully utilized for oral cromolyn sodium clinical studies.