Application of microbore HPLC in combination with tandem MS for the quantification of rosuvastatin in human plasma

The potential of microbore high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in combination with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) for the sensitive detection of rosuvastatin (Crestor™) in human plasma was investigated. Three microbore HPLC columns with internal diameters (i.d.) of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mm were evaluated for column efficiency and mass sensitivity, and compared to a conventional 4.6 mm i.d. column. The 2.0 and 1.0 mm i.d. columns performed very well while the 0.5 mm i.d. column was slightly less efficient, this is probably due to a lower packing density. Good results with respect to gains in mass sensitivity compared to the conventional analytical column were achieved with the 2.0 and 1.0 mm columns. Thus, the 2.0 mm i.d. column had an improved signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of 16 whilst the 1.0 mm i.d. column had an improved S/N ratio of greater than 70. Experiments with the 1.0 mm i.d. HPLC column were performed to determine the robustness of the microbore method for human plasma extracts after sample preparation using solid-phase extraction (SPE). A number of problems were encountered with extracts including high backgrounds, the blocking of the column and a rapid deterioration in column performance. The blocking of the column by particulates was solved by off-line filtration of the sample extracts. Peak tailing of the analytes and high background, both of which were due to endogenous interferences in the extracts, were eliminated using gradient elution. Using these approaches over 500 injections of plasma extracts were achieved without significant deterioration in assay performance. Quantities of rosuvastatin of 0.3 pg on-column could be detected and cross-validation experiments demonstrated that the conventional and the microbore HPLC-MS/MS methods provided similar information on the concentration of rosuvastatin but with greatly reduced sample consumption using the microbore method.