A new approach for antibiotic drugs determination in human plasma by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

Sensitive and selective analytical procedures based on high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection were developed for the determination of linezolid (LIN) and amoxicillin (AMOX) in human plasma samples. Samples were prepared by applying protein precipitation (PP), solid phase extraction (SPE), and microextraction in packed syringe (MEPS). The analytical separation was carried out using reversed phase liquid chromatography in isocratic mode. All analytes were monitored by mass spectrometry (MS) detection in the product ion mode and the method was validated covering the corresponding therapeutic range of 1–30 μg/mL and 1–50 μg/mL for LIN and AMOX respectively. The assay was linear over AMOX and LIN concentration ranges. The method provided good validation data: accuracy (102.9% (LIN), 100.9% (AMOX)), limit of detection (0.1407 ng/mL (LIN); 0.1341 ng/mL (AMOX); quantification (0.3814 ng/mL (LIN), 0.4249 ng/mL (AMOX)) and acceptable stability within 24 h in the auto-sampler. Three different methods were compared as regards precision, accuracy, recovery and matrix effects. The proposed methods offer a fast and simple way to determine selected antibiotic drugs in human plasma that could be applied in pharmacokinetic studies.

► Antibiotic drugs analysis using LC–MS/MS in human plasma.
► MEPS was coupled with positive LC–ESI–MS/MS for the first time to determine amoxicillin and linezolid.
► The proposed method achieves suitable detection limits, recoveries and precision.
► Based on the proposed method, we conducted the first pharmacokinetics study of amoxicillin in human.