A method for the direct injection and analysis of small volume human blood spots and plasma extracts containing high concentrations of organic solvents using revered-phase 2D UPLC/MS

Abstract

The emergence of micro sampling techniques holds great potential to improve pharmacokinetic data quality, reduce animal usage, and save costs in safety assessment studies. The analysis of these samples presents new challenges for bioanalytical scientists, both in terms of sample processing and analytical sensitivity. The use of two dimensional LC/MS with, at-column-dilution for the direct analysis of highly organic extracts prepared from biological fluids such as dried blood spots and plasma is demonstrated. This technique negated the need to dry down and reconstitute, or dilute samples with water/aqueous buffer solutions, prior to injection onto a reversed-phase LC system. A mixture of model drugs, including bromhexine, triprolidine, enrofloxacin, and procaine were used to test the feasibility of the method. Finally an LC/MS assay for the probe pharmaceutical rosuvastatin was developed from dried blood spots and protein-precipitated plasma. The assays showed acceptable recovery, accuracy and precision according to US FDA guidelines. The resulting analytical method showed an increase in assay sensitivity of up to forty fold as compared to conventional methods by maximizing the amount loaded onto the system and the MS response for the probe pharmaceutical rosuvastatin from small volume samples.