Application of LC-MS/MS method for the in vivo metabolite determination of oleuropein after intravenous administration to rat

A highly sensitive, specific and simple LC‐MS/MS method was developed to investigate in vivo bio‐transformation of oleuropein in rat. Rat urine samples collected after the intravenous administrations were determined using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization in the negative‐ion mode. The assay procedure involves a simple liquid–liquid extraction of parent oleuropein and the metabolite from rat urine with ethyl acetate. Chromatographic separation was operated with 0.1% formic acid aqueous and methanol in gradient program at a flow rate of 0.80 mL/min on an RP‐C₁₈ column with a total run time of 30 min. This method has been successfully applied to simultaneous determination of oleuropein and its metabolite in rat urine. Oxygenation was found to be the major metabolic pathway of the oleuropein in rat after intravenous administration. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In vivo metabolite detection and identification in drug discovery via LC-MS/MS with data-dependent scanning and postacquisition data mining

An important aspect in drug discovery is the early structural identification of the metabolites of potential new drugs. This gives information on the metabolically labile points in the molecules under investigation, suggesting structural modifications to improve their metabolic stability, and allowing an early safety assessment via the identification of metabolic activation products. From an analytical point of view, metabolite identification still remains a challenging task, especially for in vivo samples, in which they occur at trace levels together with high amounts of endogenous compounds. Here we describe a method, based on LC-ion trap tandem MS, for the rapid in vivo metabolite identification. It is based on the automatic, data-dependent acquisition of multiple product ion MS/MS scans, followed by a postacquisition search, within the entire MS/MS data set obtained, for specific neutral losses or marker ions in the tandem mass spectra of parent molecule and putative metabolites. One advantage of the method is speed, since it requires minimum sample preparation and all the necessary data can be obtained in one chromatographic run. In addition, it is highly sensitive and selective, allowing detection of trace metabolites even in the presence of a complex matrix. As an example of application, we present the studies of the in vivo metabolism of the compound MEN 15916 (1). The method allowed identification of monohydroxy ([M + H](+) = m/z 655), dihydroxy ([M + H](+) = m/z 671), and trihydroxy ([M + H](+) = m/z 687) metabolites, as well as some unexpected biotransformation products such as a carboxylic acid ([M + H](+) = m/z 669), a N-dealkylated metabolite ([M + H](+) = m/z 541), and its hydroxy-analog ([M + H](+) = m/z 557).     

LC-ESI-MS/MS method for quantification of ambrisentan in plasma and application to rat pharmacokinetic study

A sensitive high‐performance liquid chromatography–positive ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the quantification of ambrisentan in plasma. The analyte and the internal standard (armodafinil) were extracted from plasma by acetonitrile precipitation and they were separated on a reversed‐phase C₁₈ column with a gradient program. The MS acquisition was performed with multiple reaction monitoring mode using the respective [M + H]⁺ ions, m/z 379–347 for ambrisentan and m/z 274–167 for the IS. The assay exhibited a linear dynamic range of 1–2000 ng/mL for ambrisentan in plasma. Acceptable precision (<10%) and accuracy (100 ± 8%) were obtained for concentrations over the standard curve range. The method was successfully applied to quantify ambrisentan concentrations in a rodent pharmacokinetic study after a single oral administration of ambrisentan at 2.5 mg/kg to rats. Following oral administration the maximum mean concentration in plasma (C_max; 1197 ± 179 ng/mL) was achieved at 1.0 ± 0.9 h (T_max), and the area under the curve (AUC) was 6013 ± 997 ng h/mL. Therefore, development of such a simple and sensitive method in rat plasma should translate into a method for ambrisentan in human plasma for clinical trials. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Highly sensitive quantification of pemetrexed in human plasma using UPLC-MS/MS to support microdosing studies

Pemetrexed is an antifolate drug approved for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer and mesothelioma. Assessing pemetrexed pharmacokinetics after administration of a microdose (100 μg) may facilitate drug–drug interaction and dose individualization studies with cytotoxic drugs, without causing harm to patients. Therefore, a highly sensitive bioanalytical assay is required. A reversed-phase ultra-high performance liquid chromatography method was developed to determine pemetrexed concentrations in human ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid–plasma after microdosing. [¹³C₅]-Pemetrexed was used as the internal standard. The sample preparation involved solid-phase extraction from plasma. Detection was performed using MS/MS in a total run time of 9.5 min. The assay was validated over the concentration range of 0.0250–25.0 μg/L pemetrexed. The average accuracies for the assay in plasma were 96.5 and 96.5%, and the within-day and between-day precision in coefficients of variations was <8.8%. Extraction recovery was 59 ± 1 and 55 ± 5% for pemetrexed and its internal standard. Processed plasma samples were stable for 2 days in a cooled autosampler at 10°C. The assay was successfully applied in a pharmacokinetic curve, which was obtained as a part of an ongoing clinical microdosing study.     

A sensitive UHPLC–MS/MS method for the simultaneous quantification of three lignans in human plasma and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

The aim of this study was to develop an analytical method to simultaneously analyze schizandrin, schizandrol B, and gomisin N lignans in human plasma using ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. The three lignans were separated using a mobile phase of water and acetonitrile containing 0.02% acetic acid equipped with a Kinetex C₁₈ column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 μm). This analysis was achieved by multiple reaction monitoring mode in an electrospray interface. The mass transitions were m /z 433.1→384.0 for schizandrin, 398.8→367.8 for schizandrol B, and 400.6→299.8 for gomisin N. Liquid–liquid extraction with methyl tert‐butyl ether was used to obtain the three lignans. The chromatograms showed high resolution, sensitivity, and selectivity with no interference with plasma constituents. The calibration curves for the three lignans in human plasma were 0.05–50 ng/mL and displayed excellent linearity with correlation coefficients greater than 0.99. Precision for all three lignans was within 11.23%. The accuracy was 88.3–99.0% for schizandrin, 90.6–103.4% for schizandrol B, and 90.2–103.5% for gomisin N. The developed simultaneous analytical method satisfied the criteria of international guidance and could be successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of three lignans after oral administration of Schisandrae Fructus extract powder to humans.     

Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantification of amisulpride with LLOQ of 100 pg/mL using 100 microL of plasma

A sensitive and selective high-performance liquid chromatography-positive ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the quantification of amisulpride in 100 microL of human plasma. Following liquid-liquid extraction, the analytes were separated using an isocratic mobile phase on a reverse-phase column and analyzed by MS/MS in the multiple reaction monitoring mode using the respective (M + H)(+) ions, m/z 370-242 for amisulpride and m/z 341-112 for the internal standard. The assay exhibited a linear dynamic range with a lower range of 0.1-100 ng/mL and a higher range of 1-500 ng/mL of amisulpride in human plasma. The lower limit of quantification was 0.1 ng/mL with a relative standard deviation of less than 10%. Acceptable precision and accuracy were obtained for both linearity ranges. A run time of 2.0 min for each sample made it possible to analyze more than 275 human plasma samples per day. The validated method has been successfully used to analyze plasma samples for application in pharmacokinetic studies.     

Pre-column derivatization method for determining phenylephrine in human plasma and its application in a pharmacokinetic study

In the present study, a rapid derivatization liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method was developed and validated to evaluate phenylephrine in human plasma. The plasma samples were processed to precipitate the proteins, followed by derivatization of the phenylephrine in the plasma with dansyl-chloride solution and extraction with methyl tert-butyl ether–n-hexane (2:1, v/v). The treated samples were analyzed on a Gemini C₁₈ column with 3 min gradient elution, and sensitive detection was achieved with a Waters TQ-s. The method gave linear results over a concentration range from 0.020 to 10.0 ng/ml. The lower limit of quantification was 0.020 ng/ml. Intra- and inter-day precision was <15%, and accuracy was 95.0–105.3%. The validated LC–MS/MS method was successfully applied in the pharmacokinetic analysis of phenylephrine in Chinese subjects with common cold after a single-dose administration of 5, 10 or 20 mg phenylephrine. This pre-column derivatization method may also be applied for the analysis of endogenous hormones such as norepinephrine and adrenaline in a biological matrix.     

Development and validation of LC–MS/MS method for quantification of bictegravir in human plasma and its application to an intracellular uptake study

A sensitive liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method was developed and validated for quantification of bictegravir in human plasma. A small volume of only 50 μL aliquot of plasma was precipitated with acetonitrile containing an internal standard (IS). Chromatographic separation was performed on a Kinetex EVO C₁₈ column, 50 × 3.0 mm, 5 μm using an isocratic mobile phase containing 80:20 acetonitrile–water with 0.1% formic acid. A mass spectrometer was operated in ESI positive multiple reaction monitoring mode using the m/z 450.1/289.1 for bictegravir and 420.1/277.1 for IS. The dynamic range of the method was 1–10,000 ng/mL with a correlation coefficient of ≥0.9991. The precision results of calibration standards were in the range of 0.05–4.57% and accuracies were 95.07–104.70%. The mean extraction recovery was 98.64% with a precision of 2.91%. The method was validated as per US Food and Drug Administration guidelines and was found to be accurate and precise. The method was successfully applied to in vitro cellular uptake study.     

LC-MS/MS method for the confirmatory determination of aromatic amines and its application in textile analysis

A confirmation method for the determination of 18 aromatic amines originating from azo dyes after reductive cleavage was developed. The method is based on the use of high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry with atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization. For the identification of the analytes one precursor ion and two daughter ions (multi-reaction monitoring, MRM) were selected and the LC-MS/MS parameters optimized to obtain high sensitivity and selectivity. The linear ranges varied from 0.1–1 to 30–50 g mL^–1 with correlation coefficients of 0.99 or better. The applicability of the method to determine o-tolidine (3,3-dimethylbenzidine) and 3,3-dimethoxybenzidine in textiles following reductive cleavage of acid red 114, trypan blue, and Chicago sky blue 6B was demonstrated.     

Validation of direct injection electrospray LC-MS/MS for confirmation of opiates in urine drug testing

A method based on the direct injection of diluted urine for the identification and quantification of morphine, morphine-3-glucuronide, morphine-6-glucuronide, codeine, codeine-6-glucuronide, ethylmorphine, ethylmorphine-6-glucuronide and 6-acetylmorphine (6AM) in human urine by electrospray ionisation liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was validated for use as a confirmation procedure in urine drug testing. Four deuterium labelled analogues were used as internal standards: morphine-3-glucuronide-D3, morphine-D3, codeine-D3 and 6AM-D3. Twenty microlitre aliquots of urine were mixed with 80 mul of the internal standard solution in autosampler vials and 10 mul was injected. The chromatographic system consisted of a 2.0 x 100 mm C18 column and the gradient elution buffers used acetonitrile and 25 mmol/l formic acid. Two product ions produced from the protonated molecular ions were monitored in the selected reaction monitoring mode. The intra- and inter-assay variability (coefficient of variation) was below 10% at higher levels for all analytes, but at the reporting limits the variation was above 20% for 6AM, morphine-3-glucuronide and codeine-6-glucuronide. Ion suppression occurred early after injection but did not affect the identification and quantification of the analytes in authentic samples. The method was further validated by comparison with a reference gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method using authentic urine samples. The two methods agreed almost completely (99%) regarding the identified analytes, but for the quantitative results there were slightly lower levels when measuring glucuronides directly as compared to total determination after hydrolysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.We conclude that the presented liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric method is robust and reliable, and suitable for use as a confirmation method in urine drug testing for opiates     

Practical determination of methotrexate in serum of rheumatic patients by LC-MS/MS

A rapid and simple liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for determination of methotrexate (MTX) in rheumatic patients' serum is described. Serum spiked with pterin as an internal standard was deproteinized with methanol. The separation of MTX from interfering peaks in matrix was achieved on a Luna 3 µm C₁₈ (100 × 4.6 mm i.d.) column with a mixture of 1% acetic acid and acetonitrile (88:12, v/v) within 5 min. Multiple reaction monitoring transitions monitored for MTX were m/z 455.2–308.1. The calibration curve of MTX in serum showed a good linearity (r = 0.999). Limits of detection and quantification of MTX at a signal‐to‐noise ratio of 3 and 10 were 3.0 n m (4.4 fmol/injection) and 10.0 n m (14.5 fmol/injection), respectively. The accuracy and precision for intra‐ and inter‐day assays were 94.6–106.5% and <5.5 and <5.1%, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed method was successfully applied to the sera nine rheumatic patients receiving MTX treatment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Validated LC–MS/MS method for quantification of agomelatine in human plasma and its application in a pharmacokinetic study

An analytical method based on liquid–liquid extraction has been developed and validated for analysis of agomelatine in human plasma. Fluoxetine was used as an internal standard for agomelatine. A Betasil C18 (4.0 × 100 mm, 5 µm) column provided chromatographic separation of analytes followed by detection with mass spectrometry. The method involves simple isocratic chromatographic conditions and mass spectrometric detection in the positive ionization mode using an API‐4000 system. The proposed method has been validated with linear range of 0.050–8.000 ng/ml for agomelatine. The intra‐run and inter‐run precision values are within 12.12% and 9.01%, respectively, for agomelatine at the lower limit of quantification level. The overall recovery for agomelatine and fluoxetine was 67.10% and 72.96%, respectively. This validated method was used successfully for analysis of plasma samples from a pharmacokinetic study. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A highly sensitive LC–MS/MS method for simultaneous determination of glycyrrhizin and its active metabolite glycyrrhetinic acid: Application to a human pharmacokinetic study after oral administration

A highly sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method for simultaneous determination of glycyrrhizin (GL) and its active metabolite, glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), from human plasma was validated and applied to a human pharmacokinetic study. The analytes were extracted from human plasma using an Oasis MAX cartridge and chromatographic separation was performed on an Inertsil ODS‐3 column. The detection was performed using an API 4000 mass spectrometer operating in the positive electrospray ionization mode. Selected ion monitoring transitions of m /z 823 → 453 for GL and m /z 471 → 149 for GA were obtained. The response was a linear function of concentration over the ranges of 0.5–200 ng/mL for GL and 2–800 ng/mL for GA (both R ² > 0.998). Using this method, the pharmacokinetics of GL after single oral administration of a clinical dose (75 mg) to six healthy male Japanese volunteers were evaluated. GL was detected in the plasma of all subjects and the average peak concentration was 24.8 ± 12.0 ng/mL. In contrast, peak concentration of GA was 200.3 ± 60.3 ng/mL, i.e. ~8‐fold higher than that of GL. This is the first report clarifying pharmacokinetic profiles of GL and GA simultaneously at a therapeutic oral dose of a GL preparation.     

A rapid,sensitive, and widely applicable method for quantitative analysis of underivatized amino acids in different biological matrices by UHPLC‐MS/MS

A rapid, sensitive, and widely applicable method for the simultaneous quantitative analysis of 20 underivatized amino acids in different biological matrices, including serum, plasma, and tissue homogenates, using ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry was developed and validated. Only 4 µL of serum, plasma, or tissue homogenate was extracted with 996 µL of solution (1.7 mM ammonium formate in 85% acetonitrile containing 0.1% formic acid) containing 100 ng/mL phenylalanine‐d5 as an internal standard without any further derivatization step. In addition, the matrix effects were small because a large volume of extraction solution was used. The total run time including reequilibration was 13 min. The results of linearity, accuracy, repeatability, precision, limits of detection, limits of quantification, and sample stability were sufficient to allow the measurement of the amino acids in different biological matrices. We conclude that our method is rapid, sensitive, and widely applicable and represents an improvement over other currently available technologies.     

Simultaneous determination of pyrifluquinazon and its main metabolite in fruits and vegetables by using QuEChERS–HPLC–MS/MS

A rapid, reliable, and sensitive method is reported for the simultaneous analysis of pyrifluquinazon and its main metabolite NNI‐0101‐1H in fruits (strawberry and cherry) and vegetables (cucumber and tomato) using high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. A modified, quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe procedure was used for the sample pre‐preparation. The target analytes were extracted with acetonitrile and then cleaned up using dispersive solid‐phase extraction procedure with primary secondary amine. Sample analysis was performed using electrospray ionization in positive mode. Good linearities with the correlation coefficients higher than 0.9991 were obtained in the range of 1–1000 μg/L under the optimized conditions. The average recoveries of the pyrifluquinazon and NNI‐0101‐1H were in the range of 71.4–106.0% with the relative standard deviations 1.8–11.8% in all matrices at three spiked levels (10, 100, and 1000 μg/kg). The limit of quantification 10 μg/kg was set as the lowest spiked level. The developed method is reliable and effective for the routine monitoring of pyrifluquinazon and its metabolite NNI‐0101‐1H in fruits and vegetables to ensure food safety.     

Development and validation of a hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantification of regadenoson in human plasma and its pharmacokinetic application

Regadenoson, the first selective adenosine A_2A receptor agonist, is used to perform exercise stress test during radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging. To detect the concentration of regadenoson in human plasma, a simple, fast, and sensitive tandem mass spectrometry method was established herein. Acetonitrile was used as a protein precipitation agent. Chromatographic separation was completed in 6.5 min using a BEH HILIC column (50 × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm). The mobile phase consisted of 10 mmol/L ammonium acetate/acetonitrile (gradient elution). To quantify regadenoson and regadenoson-d3, an API 4000 mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode with transitions of 391.3→259.2 and 394.3→262.2, respectively, was utilized. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.100–50.0 μg/L, and the intrabatch and interbatch precisions were <9.7% and <13.0%, respectively, and the accuracy was 2.0–6.9%. There was no apparent matrix effect for regadenoson or regadenoson-d3. The developed method was used to study the pharmacokinetic characteristics of regadenoson in healthy Chinese subjects.     

A novel UPLC‐MS/MS method for sensitive quantitation of boldine in plasma,a potential anti‐inflammatory agent: application to a pharmacokinetic study in rats

Boldine is a potential anti‐inflammatory agent found in several different plants. Published bioanalytical methods using HPLC with ultraviolet and fluorescent detection lacked enough sensitivity and required tedious sample preparation procedures. Herein, we describe the development of a novel ultra‐high performance LC with MS/MS for determination of boldine in plasma. Boldine in plasma was recovered by liquid–liquid extraction using 1 mL of methyl tert‐butyl ether. Chromatographic separation was performed on a C₁₈ column at 45°C, with a gradient elution consisting of acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% (v/v) formic acid at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The detection was performed on an electrospray triple‐quadrupole MS/MS by positive ion multiple reaction monitoring mode. Good linearity (r² > 0.9926) was achieved in a concentration range of 2.555–2555 ng/mL with a lower limit of quantification of 2.555 ng/mL for boldine. The intra‐ and inter‐day precisions of the assay were 1.2–6.0 and 1.8–7.4% relative standard deviation with an accuracy of ?6.0–8.0% relative error. This newly developed method was successfully applied to a single low‐dose pharmacokinetic study in rats and was demonstrated to be simpler and more sensitive than the published methods, allowing boldine quantification in reduced plasma volume. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method for quantification of caspofungin in clinical plasma samples

Caspofungin [(CASPO) MK-0991] is the first broad-spectrum anti-fungal agent of the echinocandin class approved for clinical use. Measurement of CASPO levels in blood might help monitor therapy in patients who are critically ill, in particular, if high-dose regimens or combinations of CASPO with other anti-fungals are used. The objective of this study was to develop a fast method for the measurement of CASPO levels in clinical blood samples using liquid chromatography coupled to a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer. Stock solutions were prepared in plasma to avoid CASPO adsorption to glass and plastic surfaces during processing. CASPO and the internal standard (IS) were extracted from 100 microl of plasma using acetonitrile protein precipitation. The supernatant was diluted and directly injected into an analytical column (C8; 2.1 x 30 mm). The total run time was 15 min. CASPO was ionized by electrospray in the positive mode. CASPO and IS [M + 2H]2+ parent ions (m/z 547.3 and 547.8, respectively) and specific product ions (m/z 137.1 and 62.2, respectively) were used for the ion transitions. No carry over or cross-talk was observed on the column. The mean method recovery was 90 +/- 3%. Neither blood from different individuals (n = 6) nor the presence of concomitant drugs (n = 33) in plasma samples interfered with CASPO quantification. Quantification over time of the CASPO levels in plasma and whole blood was investigated at different pre-analysis storage conditions. The calibration curve included the clinically relevant CASPO concentration range from 0.04 to 20 microg/ml. Mean intra- and inter-day accuracy was 96.1 +/- 2.2% and 102.5 +/- 2.4%, respectively. Mean intra- and inter-day precision was 7.9 +/- 3.2% and 6.3 +/- 1.8%, respectively. This simple and robust liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method may easily be implemented for monitoring CASPO therapy.     

Development and Application of an LC-MS/MS Untargeted Exposomics Method with a Separated Pooled Quality Control Strategy

Pooled quality controls (QCs) are usually implemented within untargeted methods to improve the quality of datasets by removing features either not detected or not reproducible. However, this approach can be limiting in exposomics studies conducted on groups of exposed and nonexposed subjects, as compounds present at low levels only in exposed subjects can be diluted and thus not detected in the pooled QC. The aim of this work is to develop and apply an untargeted workflow for human biomonitoring in urine samples, implementing a novel separated approach for preparing pooled quality controls. An LC-MS/MS workflow was developed and applied to a case study of smoking and non-smoking subjects. Three different pooled quality controls were prepared: mixing an aliquot from every sample (QC-T), only from non-smokers (QC-NS), and only from smokers (QC-S). The feature tables were filtered using QC-T (T-feature list), QC-S, and QC-NS, separately. The last two feature lists were merged (SNS-feature list). A higher number of features was obtained with the SNS-feature list than the T-feature list, resulting in identification of a higher number of biologically significant compounds. The separated pooled QC strategy implemented can improve the nontargeted human biomonitoring for groups of exposed and nonexposed subjects.     

Study of different atmospheric-pressure interfaces for LC-MS/MS determination of acrylamide in water at sub-ppb levels

A rapid, sensitive and selective method based on LC-MS/MS has been developed for the direct determination of acrylamide residues in water in compliance with the current European Union (EU) 98/83 Drinking Water Directive. Given the high polarity of acrylamide, the application of a rapid on-line solid phase extraction step, commonly used for preconcentrating low analyte levels, was not found to be completely satisfactory. Therefore, an alternative approach based on the use of direct large-volume injection into the LC-MS/MS system has been used. Three atmospheric-pressure interfaces (ESI, APCI and Ion Sabre APCI) were checked to reach the required sensitivity (0.1 microg/l). All three interfaces were tested by analysis of six different water samples (surface water, groundwater, drinking water and three treated water samples) spiked at three concentration levels each (0.1, 1 and 10 microg/l). When using ESI, poor sensitivity and high matrix effects were observed. This situation improved when APCI was used as the interface because no matrix effect was found, although sensitivity was not completely satisfactory. The best results were obtained by interfacing the Ion Sabre APCI; its higher sensitivity for acrylamide (LOD 0.03 microg/l) and the absence of matrix effects recommended its selection. Using this approach, satisfactory recoveries (90-97%) and precision (<12%) were obtained for all water samples studied. Besides, the acquisition of two different MS/MS transitions allowed not only the quantification but also the confirmation of acrylamide in water at concentration levels around 0.1 microg/l.