Micro-scale analysis of aminoglycoside antibiotics in human plasma by capillary liquid chromatography and nanospray tandem mass spectrometry with column switching

A simple liquid chromatographic method combined with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS–MS) is described for the analysis of aminoglycoside antibiotics. Clinically these antibiotics may cause both ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity; therefore, the monitoring of aminoglycoside levels in patient plasma is required for protecting human health. In this study separation of the method is based on ion-pair chromatographic technology on a short capillary reversed-phase C18 column. The method was successfully applied to analyze amikacin in human plasma. In human plasma after deproteinisation with HFBA, an aliquot of 1 μL supernatant was injected into the chromatographic system. Only a small amount of plasma sample, 10 μL, is sufficient for the monitoring of amikacin levels in clinically therapeutic range. The relative standard deviations (RSD) of the method for intra- and inter-day analyses (n = 5) are less than 5.8%. Application of this method for the trace analysis of amikacin in human plasma proved simple and workable.