Development of a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC/MS) assay method for the quantification of PSC 833 (Valspodar) in rat plasma

A liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC/MS) assay method was developed for the quantification of PSC 833 in rat plasma, using amiodarone as internal standard (IS). Separation was achieved using a C8 3.5 μm (2.1 mm × 50 mm) column heated to 60 °C with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile–ammonium hydroxide 0.2% (90:10 v/v) pumped at a rate of 0.2 mL/min. Detection was accomplished by mass spectrometer using selected ion monitoring (SIM) in positive mode. An excellent linear relationship was present between peak height ratios and rat plasma concentrations of PSC 833 ranging from 10 to 5000 ng/mL (R2 > 0.99). Intra-day and inter-day coefficients of variation (CV%) were less than 15%, and mean error was less than 10% for the concentrations above the limit of quantification. The validated limit of quantification of the assay was 10 ng/mL based on 0.1 mL rat plasma. The method limit of detection, based on an average signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of 3, was found to be 2.5 ng/mL. The assay was capable of measuring the plasma concentrations of PSC 833 in rats injected with a single dose of 5 mg/kg of the drug. PSC 833 and IS eluted within 4 min, free of interfering peaks. The method was found to be fast, sensitive, and specific for the quantification of PSC 833 in rat plasma.