Method development and validation of ursodiol and its major metabolites in human plasma by HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

BackgroundUrsodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and its metabolites tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) and glycoursodeoxycholic acid (GUDCA) have been the subject of several pharmacological studies. The objective of this study was to develop an innovative method of quantification by HPL-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), with a lower cost and suitable, for application in bioequivalence studies.MethodsThe procedure involved liquid–liquid extraction for quantification of UDCA/GUDCA and precipitation extraction for TUDCA, using deuterated substances as internal standards (ISs) and Phenomenex Luna 250×4.6 mm 5μ C18 100A column. The mobile phase used was acetonitrile/ammonium acetate 30 mM (420: 580 v/v pH 7) for UDCA, acetonitrile/ammonium acetate 10 mM/ammonium hydroxide (400:600: 0.5 v/v/v pH 9) for GUDCA, and acetonitrile/ammonium acetate 10 mM (570: 430 v/v pH 7) for TUDCA. Ions were monitored by the electrospray ion source (ESI) mass spectrometer, operating in a negative ionization mode. Compound determination was performed by LC-MS/MS system using a calibration curve of 15–10,000 ng/mL for UDCA/GUDCA and 5–500 ng/mL for TUDCA. The method was developed and validated according to the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) of Brazil norms harmonized with the main international guidelines as a prerequisite for conducting in vivo study in human volunteers.ResultsThe method did not present matrix effect and residual effect, showing to be selective for studied molecules, with adequate accuracy and precision. In addition, the method was considered sensitive presenting a coefficient of variation less than 20% for the lower limit of quantification of each compound.ConclusionThis method can be applied in bioequivalence studies to determine ursodiol and its metabolites reproducibly, simply, and effectively with the use of readily accessible analytical materials and instrumentation.

Box-Behnken Design Assisted Protein Precipitation Optimization for Simultaneous Determination of Metformin Hydrochloride and Alogliptin Benzoate in Plasma along with Pharmacokinetic Application

“…While, the present research study proposed the development and application of a fast high throughput PP sample preparation method optimized by BBD for extraction of both the drugs from plasma with higher extraction recovery. Methanol was selected as the precipitating solvent owing to its polarity and gave high percent extraction recovery of both the drugs, 90.83 %-95.87 % for MET and 94.03-96.73 % for ALO from plasma respectively [27,28] . The application of BBD hence assured the robust and reliable PP extraction technique and reveals higher extraction recovery, no requirement of specialized apparatus with faster analysis as well as low cost.…”