Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric quantification of the mu opioid receptor agonist DAMGO in ovine plasma

The synthetic opioid peptide analog Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-N-methyl-Phe-Gly-ol (DAMGO), which is a mu opioid receptor-selective agonist, was quantified in ovine plasma samples with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS), using delayed extraction and a reflectron. The internal standard was pentadeuterated DAMGO. Timed-ion selection was used to select the precursor ion. The analysis of the post-source decay fragments improved the detection sensitivity, and the use of the precursor-product ion relationship optimized the specificity. For plasma samples, the inter-assay variability of this method was 6.4% (n = 79) and the intra-assay variability was 6.0% (n = 10). The variability for controls was 3.4% (n = 43). The profile of DAMGO amount versus time was determined in sheep plasma, and the corresponding pharmacokinetic data were calculated.