Analysis of hydroxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers in rat plasma by using ultra performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) provides improved resolution, speed and sensitivity compared to conventional high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In this study, a robust UPLC–ESI–MS/MS method was developed for the rapid determination of nine hydroxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (OH-PBDEs) in rat plasma. Under the optimized conditions, the OH-PBDE congeners were eluted within 7.0 min. The limits of quantification defined at the signal-to-noise ratio of 10 were 0.17–2.78 ng/mL in rat plasma. The method provided good linearity for the calibration curves with recoveries of 93.3–114.0% and repeatability with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 0.6–5.8% for intra-day and 3.2–10.4% for inter-day measurements. The developed method was applied for supporting the pharmacokinetics investigation of 6-OH-BDE-47 in two groups of Sprague–Dawley rats that received, respectively a single dose of 0.60 mg/kg (high dose) and 0.15 mg/kg (low dose) by intravenous injection. The results showed that plasma levels of 6-OH-BDE-47 declined bi-exponentially with elimination half-life of 71.7 and 85.6 min for lower and higher dose group, respectively. The obtained results of short elimination half-life suggested that 6-OH-BDE-47 might not accumulate significantly in rat.